


Seeing Death ~ IT (Reddie) Fanfic

by FaithTheSecretary



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: A little angst, Domestic, Fix-It, Fluff, I have devoted my life and soul for the past two days to spit out 80 pages of my best shit, It Chapter Two, It’s not super sad I promise, Kisses, M/M, Post-IT Chapter Two (2019), Richie and Eddie live together for 18 years, Roommates, The 27 years in between are included too, gay wedding, i write as much as possible and I’m not gonna rest until this is finished I promise, im a grammar freak dw, it chapter one, little things that are cute, more kisses, stan and Eds live
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:20:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 54,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23875363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaithTheSecretary/pseuds/FaithTheSecretary
Summary: (Runs through It, the 27 years in between, It Chapter Two, and some time after)Richie knows that something out there is trying to kill his Eds, but he just doesn’t know what.All he’s got is the same horrible dream every night and a plan on how to stop this all.How far would you do to save your crush’s life? For Richie, that means becoming Eddie’s brand-new roommate.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Reddie - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> OMG HEY YOURE BARELY IN BUT I STILL THANK YOU FOR READING. I WRITE WAY TOO MUCH SO I PROMISE IF YOU JUST SIT WITH ME THIS WILL BE COMPLETELY FINISHED IN AN ESTIMATED OF A WEEK AND A HALF. STICK WITH ME AND ILY!!!

## Chapter One

“Richie!” shouts a boy, his eyebrows furrowed in anger. He stands under his red umbrella, staring at his best friend next to him who’s stomping as he walks through the stream of water, splashing the two of them. “Do you know how disgusting that is? That water leads right to the sewer!” 

“It’s not there yet, you dumbass. It’s still very much clean!”

“Clean? No, that’s not clean, you idiot. That’s on the muddy--the muddy, germ-infested street!” he continues. The other boy just laughs, fixing his thick-rimmed glasses. “You know what? Not only are you going to get overridden with germs, you’re gonna get soaking wet in the rain, get hypothermia so you won’t be able to recover from the germs and die.”

“Whatever, Eds.”

Kicking the water up at the first boy, the second laughs as he screams in fear, jumping far enough away from his friend. “What the fuck! My shorts are soaking wet!” he shrieks. The other boy cackles, throwing his head back to laugh.

The year was 1988. October. The rain was coming down hard and the streams running to the sewers were especially large. It hadn’t rained like this in forever. Eddie Kaspbrak was a germaphobe, no doubt about it. An abnormally small kid for his age with an inhaler sealed away in his fanny pack, he liked to stay out of the rain to avoid the mud, but his best friend was the one to pull him out that day. His best friend--if anyone asked--was a moron. That moron was Richie Tozier. A four-eyes with a love for all video games; especially Street Fighter. Richie was the one to always poke fun at Eddie, whether it be remarks about his mom, jokes about his height or his medical needs.

But of course, no matter how many times they told each other off, they still stuck together.

“I’m not worried, my Eddie Spaghetti, because I know if I do, you’re going to make me feel better, Doctor K.” coos Richie, making Eddie roll his eyes.

“Fuck you, trashmouth.” hisses Eddie.

There was a noise.

Richie looked at the ground and stepped back from the sewer, looking in.

“Richie?” Eddie asked, wavering for a moment. Richie didn’t respond as he scrunched his nose curiously.

“Did you hear that?”

Eddie looked at Richie, fearfully glaring at him. “No,”

Richie squatted down and peered in, taking another step closer to the sewers. Eddie nervously fiddled with his umbrella as Richie tilted his head. “I think there’s something down there,” he whispers.

Eddie bites his lip. Taking a step towards Richie, he pulls his sleeve. “Come _on_ , Richie. Cut the shit, okay? I know you’re messing with me!”

“No, Eds. I’m not. I actually heard something--”

There’s another noise, making the two meet eyes. Eddie’s are widened, making his breathing quicken. Richie takes another step towards the sewer. “It’s probably just an animal, okay? It’s nothing. Stop it, you’re gonna get rabies!” Richie keeps his eye to Eddie’s rain boots as he reaches into the sewer. “Richie, don’t! You’re gonna get--”

Richie screams and his arm is tugged into the sewer, fear washing over his features. He continues to scream in fear as Eddie jumps back, letting out a girlish scream. He screws up his eyes and holds his umbrella tightly. 

As Richie stops screaming, amusement replaces fear, the boy starting to laugh. Eddie opens his eyes to see his best friend double over laughing, rolling around in the rainwater. Eddie’s face heats up in embarrassment.

“You fucking asshole! I knew it! _I knew it_!” he shouts at Richie, the boy beaming that the prank had worked so well.

“That was hilarious, Eds.”

“No it wasn’t!”

“Cute, cute, cute~!” teases Richie, ruffling Eddie’s hair. The shorter boy scowled. “Come on, you idiot.” Richie calls, waving his hand for Eddie to follow as he continues down the street. Eddie sighs.

“ _Oh, Eddie…_ ” whispers a voice. Eddie whips his head around from staring at Richie to the sewer. “ _Down here, Eddie…_ ”

Eddie's breathing is hitched as he stares at the hole of the sewer grate. His eyes are wide and he’s rooted to the spot, unable to move a muscle. A pale white hand reaches out of the sewer, gripping the top of it. “ _Play with us, Eddie…_ ” the voice continues. His breath gets faster as the hand reaches towards Eddie’s ankle. “ _You’ll float down here, Eddie…_ ” The hand shoots towards his leg and Eddie is about to scream when—

“Hey!” Eddie, still horrified, turns to stare at a slightly worried Richie. When Eddie meets his eye, Richie’s worry escalates. He puts a hand on his shoulder to draw him back. “Woah, Eds. Are you okay?” Eddie looks back down to the sewer. The hand was gone. Richie uses his hand to move Eddie’s head to look at him. “You know I was just playing, right?” Richie gives him a reassuring smile. “There’s nothing down there, okay? You’re safe with me, right?” Eddie nods a bit, Richie grinning. He flexes his muscles. “Good ol’ trashmouth will protect ya,”

Eddie laughs, pushing Richie away. “Shut the fuck up, Tozier.”

***

**June, 1989**

“How’s it work?” asks Bill, throwing open the doors of the classroom. Eddie, Stanley and Richie walk out with him, Eddie speaking with his hands waving around.

“They slice part of his penis off,” he answers, Richie’s eyes going wide. 

“That can’t be true. He’d have nothing left…”

Stanley, standing next to Bill, rolls his eyes and scoffs. Eddie on the other hand takes a puff from his inhaler. “That’s a real knee-slapper, Richie. So funny I forgot to laugh,” Richie wiggles his eyebrows and grins ear to ear.

“So which is it? Knee-slapper or you forgot to laugh?”

“Shut up, Richie. Seriously, Stan. W-what happens?” Bill tries, his stutter getting the best of him. 

Stanley adjusts his backpack, shrugging. “I don’t know, I read some stuff from the Torah and make a speech and then suddenly I become a man--”

“That sounds like a lot of work. I became a man by banging Ed’s mom!”

“Oh, why you little!” cries Eddie.

“Richie, gross.”

“Oh, really Eds? I’m the little one?” Richie drapes an arm around Eddie, who sticks his tongue out at Richie. Richie taps Eddie’s nose. 

“Fuck you, Richie!”

“Do it yourself, coward,” winks a smiling Richie. The group dump their school supplies in the trash bin outside the school, Eddie beaming.

“Best feeling ever.”

Richie smirks. “I know one that’s better,”

“Hey, what do you guys wanna do tomorrow?” Eddie questions, ignoring Richie’s dumb remark.

“I start my training.”

“Wait, what training?”

“ _Street Fighter_!”

“Is that how you wanna spend your summer? Inside of an arcade?” Eddie raises an eyebrow, giving Richie a disappointing look. 

“Beats spending it inside of your mother!” cries Richie, oohing. He holds up a thumbs down but Stanley smacks it down.

“What if we go to the quarry?”

“G-guys, we have the Barrens,” says Bill. 

“Right, who wouldn’t wanna play around in some muddy sewer water?”

Eddie gags.

The three other boys see the mother of Betty Ripsom, sleepless and desperate as they turn towards Bill. She’s scanning the kids as they leave the school. As she meets eyes with the boys, they look away and hurry on their way.

“Is she really expecting to see her come out of that school?” mutters Stanley as they start walking. 

Eddie scoffs. “Like Betty Ripsom’s been hiding in Home Ec. the last three weeks.”

“Do you think they’ll find her?”

Richie sniggers, starting to walk a bit ahead of the group. “Sure they will. In a ditch. All decomposed, covered in worms and maggots and smelling like Eddie’s mom’s underwear--” Before anyone can react, Richie hits the pavement, his glasses skidding a few feet away. Comics and videogames spill out of the bag. As Eddie moves to grab the glasses, he’s pulled and falls backwards. Henry Bowers cackles.

“Hey, homos. How are you doing?” he sneers, Eddie sitting up on support of his hands. Richie goes to reach for his glasses when Henry kicks them away. Vic grabs Stanley and takes off his yarmulke. He chuckles it into a departing bus and laughs in his face. 

“Nice frisbee, flamer.”

“You suck, B-B-Bowers!” shouts Bill, Henry turning to stare menacingly at Bill. He wilts under the bully’s gaze. 

“You s-s-say something, p-p-pussy?” Eddie looks to Bill, who clamps his mouth shut. “Yeah, thought so. You got a free ride this year because of your little brother. But the ride's over, Denbrough--” grabbing him tightly he raises a fist, Bill flinching. But Henry stops, looking at his father staring from across the schoolyard. Henry releases him. “This summer’s gonna be a hurt train, for you and your faggot friends,” he snarls. 

As the group leaves, Eddie picks up Richie’s glasses, turning to bump into him as he goes to return them. “Ah, sorry--” mutters Eddie. As he gives Richie a look, the other boy lowers his head in obedience for Eddie to reach better. “Here you go,” Eddie slides the glasses back on Richie’s face. 

Richie’s a vivid pink as he smiles dumbly. “Thanks, Eds.” he stutters. Regaining himself, Richie looks back to Bowers. “I wish he'd go missing.”

“He's probably the one doing it.”

As the other two split off, Eddie and Richie stand there, a bit awkwardly. “You know, Eds. Offer still stands,” Richie shrugs and Eddie recoils, disgusted. Richie laughs at his face. “Well, that’s a no if I’ve ever seen one.”

“You think I’d be caught dead in an Arcade? Because that’s what will happen if I go there. Caught and dead, keeled over in the corner that’s covered in crappy pizza grease.” Richie smirks, rolling his eyes. “Do you know how much of a disease breeding ground that is? Sometimes I wonder why I even let you near me with those disgusting hands.” Eddie shakes his head, pulling his backpack back on. Richie grins ear to ear.

“You mean these?” Dragging his tongue across his hand, he holds it out to Eddie’s face, who jumps backwards.

“You’re disgusting!” cries Eddie, scrambling away from him. Richie laughs. 

“See you tomorrow, Eds,” waves Richie, hopping on his bike. Eddie watches him ride off, then turning around to continue his walk home. 

***

Richie and Bill raid Eddie’s cabinets like feral animals, stuffing Capri Suns, a bag of marshmallows, whatever snacks they can find into their backpacks. The sick boy hugs himself tightly, taking a step towards Richie.

“What if someone catches us--?”

“It’s the public works. We’re the public, aren’t we?” answers Bill absentmindedly. 

“Eds!” calls Richie, turning to Eddie. He points to the cabinet. “Are these your birth control pills?”

“Yeah, very funny.” he seethes. “I’m saving them for your sister. That’s private stuff!” He slams the cabinet shut and Richie winks at him. Finishing up, Bill leads as Richie pulls Eddie close, the shorter boy’s head bumping against the taller one’s chest. As the three try to sneak out, Eddie’s mother catches them. 

“Eddie-bear,” she asks, not looking up from the TV. “ Where are you boys off to in such a rush?” Eddie pulls away from Richie and starts to panic. 

“Uh, just my b-backyard, Mrs. K. We got a new badminton set.” Bill answers, saving the day. Mrs. Kaspbrak looks the boys up and down. 

“Okay, but sweetie; don’t go rolling around on the grass. Especially if it’s just been cut. You know how your allergies can get.”

“Yes mommy,” mutters Eddie. 

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Eddie slumps. Knowing exactly what he’s forgetting, he trudges over to his Mother. As the other boys watch he kisses his mother on the cheek, she smiles.

“Want one from me too, Mrs. K?” blurts Richie. Bill snorts.

“Shut up, Richie,” blushes Eddie.

Before long, the boys have met up with Stanley at the mouth of a massive drainpipe. Eddie is pacing at the entrance, quite panicked. 

“That's poison ivy. And that's poison ivy. And that's poison ivy…” mutters Stan, making Eddie turn to him in fear.

“Where? Where's the poison ivy?”

Richie whips around and grabs Eddie by the wrist, pulling him away from Stanley. “Nowhere. Not every fucking plant is poison ivy, Stanley.”

“Okay, well I'm starting to get itchy now and I'm pretty sure this is not good for my—” Richie cuts Eddie off. 

“Do you use the same bathroom as your mother?”

Eddie hesitates. “Sometimes, yeah.”

“Then you probably have crabs.”

“Wow Richie, that’s so not funny.”

Grinning, Richie continues until he feels a tug from Eddie. He turns to see the small boy frozen in place, staring into the sewers. “Aren’t you coming in?” Richie asks.

Eddie gives him a look. “Uh-uh. That’s grey water.”

Richie scrunched up his nose. “What the hell’s grey water?” Eddie paces a bit, waving his hand. 

“It’s sewer water.” states Eddie. “Piss and shit. I’m telling you guys you’re splashing around in millions of gallons of Derry pee.” Richie shrugs. Looking around and sniffing the air, he looks to the water then back up to a disgusted looking Eddie with an undecided face. 

“Doesn't smell like caca to me, señor.”

“Okay, I can smell that from here.”

“It's probably just your breath wafting back into your face.”

“Seriously, Richie. Have you ever heard of a staph infection--?!” Richie snickers. “This is so unsanitary. You're literally... This is literally like swimming inside of a toilet bowl right now.” Richie lifts a plastic bag with a stick. “Have you ever heard of Listeria?” Chucking the bag at Eddie, he moves out of the way and screams. “Are you-- Are you retarded? You're the reason why we're in this position right now!”

“Guys,” interrupts Bill. He’s holding a single sneaker. The four go silent.

“Shit, don’t tell me that's--”

“No. Georgie wore galoshes.” He flips Richie the sneaker, nodding for him to look inside. Richie flashes his key-ring light to see “B. RIPSOM” written on the sole in black marker. His eyes go wide as he stares at it. 

“Who’s sneaker is it?” asks a worried Eddie. Richie licks his dry lips as he whispers the answer.

“...Betty Ripsom.”

“Oh, shit. For real?” Eddie looks around. “Oh, fuck. I’m freaking out now--this is really bad.”

“How do you think Betty feels? Running around these tunnels with only one friggin’ shoe.” Everyone looks to him. 

Stan opens his mouth. 

“What if... what if she’s still here?”

Silence. Richie pats the panicking Eddie to show him he’s here, then looking into the dark tunnel.

“Betty!?” he shouts. Eddie flinches.

“Really? Stop! We’re gonna get in trouble, Richie!”

“What?” Richie sighs. “Eds, _come on!_ ”

“My mom will have an aneurism if she finds out I was playing down here, I’m serious.”

Richie just sighs, pulling Eddie close. “Eds, you get within twenty feet of a peanut she has a cow. Come home with Betty Ripsom’s corpse, she might actually have a whole herd.”

“That’s so not funny. Bill?” whines Eddie.

Bill, who hadn’t said a thing, lost in his thoughts, looks up to the group. “If I was B-Betty, I would want us to find me. Georgie too.”

Richie, his comforting arm still draped across Eddie’s shoulder spoke next. “Who do you think is doing this?”

“I don’t know. Maybe this will help us find out…”

Eddie took a deep breath as Richie started to guide him forward. “What if I don’t want to find out?” he blurts. Richie looks at him. “No offense, Bill, but I don’t want to end up like... I don’t want to go missing either.”

Stanley turns to face Bill. “He has a point.” Bill seems shocked, Stanley blushing. “It's summer! We're supposed to be having fun! This isn't fun. This is scary and disgusting.” He pauses. “Don’t you guys feel it? It’s like something is out there... watching us... like it wants us…”

“--Like the voice from the sewer.” mutters Eddie. Everyone looks at the sick boy. He freezes at the sudden attention, scratching his arm as he blushes. “The rainy day that Georgie went missing, I heard something in the sewers. It was calling for me, and--”

Richie tried to calm Eddie down. “When I played that prank on you? Eds, don’t worry about that, it was nothing--”

“But I saw something!” he retaliates.

There’s a rustle in the bush. The boys freeze and Richie pulls Eddie behind him. Eddie cowers.

Ben crashes out of the bushes, getting to his feet. Bleeding horribly, he gasps for air. As the group stares at him with wide eyes, Eddie peeks from behind Richie, the boy with glasses the first one to say, “Holy fuck, what happened to you?”

Ben collapses.

Eddie screams.

“Come on, come on, we’re almost there!” shouts Richie, the four kids dragging the fifth one behind Keene’s Pharmacy.

“I think it's great that we're helping the new kid, but we also need to think of our own safety. I mean, he's bleeding all over and you guys do know that there's an AIDS epidemic happening right now as we speak, right? My mom's friend in New York City got it by touching a dirty pole on the subway. And a drop of AIDS blood got into his system through a hangnail. A hangnail! And you can amputate legs and arms. But how do you amputate a wa-- How do you amputate a waist? You guys do know that alleys are known for dirty needles that have AIDS, right? You guys do know that? Hey--”

“Wait here with him, Richie.” Stanley requests, running into the store with Bill and Eddie. 

Richie looks to Bill.

“Glad I got to meet you before you died.”

As Eddie rushes in, he switches to a doctor mode, grabbing cotton balls, antiseptic and other materials off like an expert. Bill checks the prices. Still standing in the isle, Eddie pulls out a crumpled dollar bill. “This… this is all I’ve got.”

“Don’t you have an account?”

“You crazy? My mom finds out I bought this stuff for myself and I'll spend the whole weekend in the emergency room getting x-rayed!” he hisses.

A pretty redhead girl, Beverly Marsh turns the corner, looking a little concerned. “Where’s the fire?”

“None of your business.”

Eddie panics. “There’s a kid outside, looks like someone killed him.” he sputters.

“Shit. Can I help?”

Bill shuffles, stuttering out an answer. “We need some supplies, but we don't have enough money.”

As Beverly distracts, the three shoplift their way out of the store, returning to Ben’s side. As Eddie dumps the supplies at Ben’s feet, he stands up, looking at the injured boy.

“Just suck the wound!”

“I need to focus right now,” Eddie retorts. 

Richie grins. “Oh, you need to focus?”

“Yeah, can you go get me something?” Eddie asks. He patches Ben up with one hand, holding out the other.

“Whad’ya need, Eddie spaghetti?” sighs Richie.

“Go get my bifocals. I hid 'em in my second fanny pack.”

“Why do you have two fanny packs?” Stanley narrows his eyes as he asks, Richie retrieving them.

“I need to focus right now and it's a long story. I don't want to get into it.”

“Here you are, my dear Watson!” cries Richie. Eddie turns his head but doesn’t look away from Ben’s wound as he patches it up. Richie gently slides the bifocals on Eddie's face, pushing them up so they don’t fall.

“Oh, so you’re Sherlock Holmes now?”

“Watson was a doctor, wasn’t he?”

“Wow, you know basic literature. Good for you.” he states, Eddie scoffing as he turns to glare at Richie. The taller one smiles dumbly and flushes pink as Eddie glares at him through his bifocals.

“Oh, God, he's bleeding. Oh, my God!” Stanley recoils as Eddie winces.

“What’d you expect? He was going to be leaking glitter and rainbows?” Richie retorts. 

“Ben from Social Studies?” asks Beverly, wandering into the alley. Ben goes pale. Eddie and Richie continue to bicker as Stanley sighs. Bill rolls his eyes.

As Eddie sticks the band-aid onto Ben, Richie throws up an arm. “You have to suck the wound before you apply the band-aids. This is 101.”

“You don't know what you're talking about.”

Beverley gets closer, the boys stealing a glance at her. “Are you okay? That looks like it hurts.”

“Oh. No, I'm good. I just... fell.” Ben lies.

“Yeah. Right into Henry Bowers.” snorts Richie.

“S-shut it, Richie.”

“Why? It's the truth.”

“Richie, as much I love to hear you talk, shut your fucking mouth.” snaps Eddie.

“You like my voice?”

“I was joking! Shut up!”

“Make me,”

“You sure they got the right stuff to fix you up?” asks Beverly, ignoring Eddie and Richie’s never-ending arguing.

“You know, we-we'll take care of him. Uh, thanks again, B-B-Beverly,”

“Sure, maybe I’ll see you around.”

Bill speaks up again, making the gang of losers look to him. “Yeah, we were thinking about going to the quarry tomorrow, if you wanna come.”

Beverly smiles a bit. “Good to know. Thanks.”

Stanley whips around to glare at Richie. “Nice going, bringing up Bowers in front of her.” he mutters.

“Yeah, dude, you heard what she did.” Eddie rolls his eyes as he stands up.

“What’d she do?” asks Ben, sitting up. 

“More like, ‘Who'd she do?’ From what I hear, the list is longer than my wang.” Richie sticks out his tongue and Eddie goes pink, punching Richie’s shoulder.

“It’s a short list then,” mutters Stanley. Richie turns red in anger.

“They're just rumors.” mutters Bill.

“Anyway, Bill had her back in third grade. They kissed in the school play. The reviews said you can't fake that sort of passion.” Quickly switching to a British accent, he clapped his hands and turned to Eddie. “Pip pip and tally-ho my good fellows!” cries Richie, pushing Eddie down to treat the wound. “I do believe this chap requires our utmost attention!” Eddie glares at Richie as he picks up some more supplies, opening their packaging. “Get in there, Dr. K! Come on, fix him up!”

“Why don’t you shut the fuck up Einstein, because I know what I’m doing, and I don’t want you doing the british guy right now--”

“Suck the wound! Get in there!”


	2. Chapter 2

##  Chapter Two

The five boys stand over the cliff of the incredibly low quarry. They peek down, seemingly calculating the height.

“Alright,” Eddie speaks up. “Lay it out.”

Richie spits down into the water below, then smiling and chuckling. Stanley follows. “Oh my god,” says Richie. Bill lets out a more direct spit. “So easy!”

“Poor tree,” sighs Eddie. 

Richie looks to Eddie, who’s spit falls right to the ground. Richie cackles. “So easy! Oh, my God, that was terrible. I win.” Everyone turns to him, Eddie furious. He moves a bit closer to him.

“You won?”

“Yeah!”

“Did you see my loogie?”

“That  _ totally  _ went the farthest,”

“It's by distance.” Bill pipes up.

“Mass. It's always been mass.” Eddie defends.

Richie scrunches up his nose and stares at Eddie. “What the--What is mass?”

Eddie motions to the quarry. “Who cares how far it goes? It matters how cool it looks, like it's green or it's white, or juicy and fat.”

“All right,” sighs Bill. “Who's first?”

“I'll go,” The boys turn to see Beverly taking off her sundress, running towards the cliff. “Sissies.” The boys move and Beverly jumps, falling into the quarry below. 

“What the fuck?!” She splashes into the water below, Richie turning to the boys. “Aw, holy shit! We just got showed up by a girl!”

“Do we have to do that now?” whimpers Stanley.

Eddie nods. “Yes.”

“Come on!” Beverly cries.

“Oh, shit.” Stanley says.

Bill leaps off the cliff and splashes into the water below. Ben follows and then Stanley.

“Well then, Eddie spaghetti. Don’t tell me you’re a wuss.” Richie calls, getting ready to jump. Eddie turns to Richie.

“Do you know how dangerous that is? What if I jump into shallow water?”

“You’re not gonna jump into shallow water--”

“How do you know that?” yells Eddie, putting his hands on his hips. Richie smiles, rolling his eyes. Holding out his hand for Eddie. Eddie hesitates, looking from the hand to Richie. 

“It’ll be fine, Eds. I’ll jump with you.” Eddie takes his hand and looks back out to the quarry. “On three, okay?” Eddie nods. “One,” Eddie blows some air out of his puffed up cheeks, his toes over the edge. Richie stares at him. “Two,” Eddie closes his eyes and then looks down to the others waiting for them. “Three!” Letting go of Eddie’s hand, Richie puts his hand on his back and shoves him off the cliff, Eddie letting out a shriek as he flails uncontrollably, making a large splash as he hits the water. Richie laughs, pointing to Eddie as he resurfaces.

“You asshole!” Eddie shrieks. “I’m going to strangle you when you get down here!”

“Catch me, Eds!” cries Richie, leaping off the cliff. Eddie screams and swims out of the way, Richie landing where Eddie had just been. 

“You could have killed me!” Eddie scolds as Richie comes to the surface. Richie laughs. Splashing Eddie, the shorter boy gasps. “Real mature, trashmouth!” Eddie splashes him back, Stanley splashing the two of them. Before they know it, it’s a splash fest, everyone making the biggest splashes they can. 

“DUNKED!” shouts Richie, leaping on Eddie and shoving him under water. As he comes back up, Stanley laughs at him, Eddie pulling him under water. “Chicken fight, chicken fight!” Richie challenges. 

“Oh, you’re on,” grins Beverly, climbing onto Bill’s shoulders. Richie gets on Ben’s.

“You don’t stand a chance, Marsh!” he laughs, grappling with the redhead. Stan and Eddie push each other away as they try to cheer for the opposite teams louder.

“Go, Bill! Shut that trashmouth up!” cheers Stan.

“You’ve got this, Richie! You can’t let your ass get kicked by a girl!” yells Eddie, dunking Stanley again to shut him up. 

“I already won! We already won!” With a big push, Richie shoves Beverly off of Bill, roaring in pride. “They're down! Yes!”

Eddie hollers and Stan yells at Bill and Bev.

“Our turn, our turn!” exclaims Stanley. 

“Eddie, get on my shoulders!” Ben calls.

Stan grabs Richie. “No way, you’re stronger.” As the two are hoisted up, Eddie grins and Richie.

“Aw, shit. This isn’t fair.” he says. 

“Come at me, Eduardo!”

Eddie grabs Richies hands and they start to shove, the two grinning as they fight.

“Go, go, go!” shouts Beverly, Bill cheering.

“You’re going down!”

“No way, my Eddie Spaghetti!”

As Eddie continues to shove, Richie goes off balance, teetering backwards. Richie grits his teeth and Eddie laughs. As Richie starts to fall backwards, he grabs Eddie by the wrists and pulls him off of Ben. Screaming, Eddie’s eyes go wide as he falls on top of Richie, the two laughing as they splash each other.

“I won again! Undefeated!”

“In your dreams, Rich! I was totally about to beat you!”

As they splash some more, Richie yips, moving closer to Eddie. “Ah, fuck! What was that?”

“Something just touched my foot right here!” cries Stan

“Where are we looking?” asks Eddie.

“Right here, right here, right here!”

“It's a turtle, doofus.” says Bill.

“Oh,”

Eddie smacks Richie upside the head.

***

On the road home, Eddie continues, pretty unbothered and lost in his thoughts until he hears a beep. Looking to his calculator watch, Eddie silences it, then fishing through his fanny pack to grab a bottle of pills. Dumping some in his hand, he picks through the multi-colored pills. About to pick one up, there’s a cough, making him jump. The pills in his hand scatter.

“Oh, shit--” he whispers, dropping to his knees. “Mom’s gonna kill me,”

Picking them up, he panics, peeking up at the odd, ruined house that he’s in front of. No one’s there. His hand reaches for the last pill, but someone grabs it first. A hand that’s covered in dirt, grime, cuts and probably snot. Horrified Eddie looks up to see a leprous, tumorous homeless man. A case study for Everything Awful Ever. A wet sponge of sickness. 

“Think these will help me?” he rasps. Eddie falls backwards, trying not to breathe in. The homeless man coughs again, slamming his hand on the ground. He barely misses Eddie’s ankle. Eddie yips as he looks back to the house. Eddie turns back to see the homeless man reach for his face. “Think these will help us float down in the sewers?”

The sewers.

It couldn’t be the same hand.

“Help! Help!” Eddie runs off into the backyard, stopping at the chainlink fence. Turning back to see if the homeless man is still on his tail, he instead sees an old-fashioned clown holding a collection of balloons in the pattern of an inverted triangle. It was mocking him.

“Where ya going, Eds? If you lived here you’d be home by now!” says the clown. “Come join the clown, Eds. You'll float down here. We all float down here. Yes, we do.” Eddie climbs the fence as quick as he can and falls to the other side. Looking through, he’s shocked to see… nothing.

Just like the sewers.

***

“Hey, Eds!” says Richie, picking up the phone. He sits at the kitchen table, smiling at the sound of Eddie’s voice. Eddie sighs in relief, making Richie listen closer. “Hey, you good?” he asks, his position on the chair changing from relaxed and confident to hunched over and scared. “Eddie, Eds. What’s wrong? Hello?”

“ _ Hey, Richie. _ ” he says, no louder than a whisper. “ _ Are you okay? _ ”

“I should be asking  _ you  _ that. Eddie. What’s wrong? You sound scared. Did you touch a rusty nail and get tetanus or something?” Eddie seems to stop breathing.

“ _ Oh god, I did climb that fence-- _ ”

“Woah, woah. You climbed a rusty fence? What happened?!”

Eddie sniffles, getting quieter. “ _ You’d believe me, right Richie? You wouldn’t think I was crazy, right? _ ”

“Eddie, tell me what the fuck is going on.”

“ _ I saw this thing--things. P-people. They--mom wouldn’t believe me if I told her, I...I don’t want to float. _ ” Richie starts to worry, standing up.

“Do you want me to come over?”

“ _ NO! _ ” Richie heard Mrs. K’s voice tell Eddie to keep it down. “ _ S-sorry, mommy… _ ” Eddie takes a deep breath. “ _ Don’t go past the Well House, okay? Don’t go near it. _ ”

“The crackhead house?”

“ _ Just promise you won’t come over. _ ” Eddie pleads, Richie sighing.

“Tell me what happened, I’m right here.”

Eddie takes a shaky breath and Richie hears him take a puff from his inhaler. Richie waits for him to start. “ _ I… I saw something. It was a leper. _ ”

“Well, you’re okay, right?”

“ _ There was something else. _ ” Richie shuts his mouth. “ _ There was this--there was a clown. He-- _ ” Eddie went silent. Richie’s eyes stared at his fingers. “ _ I don’t want to float, Richie. I don’t want to walk by that house ever again. _ ”

“Eddie, hey--”

“ _ What if it gets me, Richie? I know you’re the one who hates clowns, but it--I don’t want leprosy--god, I can’t breathe. _ ”

“Eds!” shouts Richie. Eddie goes quiet. “It’s okay. I promise. I’m right here, alright? Listen to my voice and take a deep breath, okay? Just breath.” Richie listens for Eddie’s breathing to steady out, as he continues to talk. “There we go,” whispers Richie. “You’re safe, okay?”

“ _ Thanks, Richie _ …”

“Call me if you change your mind about me coming over, okay?”

“ _ Okay, _ ”

***

Walking down Kansas street, the border of the Barrens, the group of six was leaving Beverly’s apartment. Richie biked around the other five as they walked their bikes. “No, I love being your personal doorman, really!” he said. “Could you idiots have taken any longer?”

“Shut up, Richie,” sighed Eddie, exhausted from a lack of sleep.

“Yeah, shut up, Richie.” Stanley repeats. 

“Oh, okay. Trash the trashmouth! I get it.” he sped in front of the group again. “Hey, I wasn’t the one scrubbing the bathroom floor imagining her sink went all Eddie’s mom’s vagina on Halloween!”

Bill seems bothered. 

“What is it, Bill?” asked Beverly, ignoring the whiny Tozier. 

Bill sighs. “All that blood at your place, and you s-say your folks didn’t see any of it... Last night at my house, with Georgie and the water, my dad just acted like everything was normal... I think if you’re a grown up--”

“They can’t see It.” answers Eddie. Richie turns around and looks back to the other Losers.

“See what?”

“It,” Beverly repeats.

“That’s why the cops won’t help, our parents, teachers--” 

Ben stops, staring at something. As they all turn, they see the Bowers gang’s truck on the side of the road.

Eddie blinks. “We should--” 

“Wait!” exclaims Bill, pointing to an abandoned bike. “Isn’t that Mike’s?”

“We have to help him.”

Richie winces at the thought of the Bower’s gang. “We do?”

“If we don’t, who will? That could be any one of us!”

Richie sighs, dismounting his bike. “Guess we’ve gotta be heroes,”

As they run over, they see Mike’s face being pushed into a pile of meat. Henry and the other two laugh. Hockstetter isn’t anywhere to be seen. 

“Eat it!” shouts Henry, a nasty grin on his face. “Eat it, fucker!” Beverly picks up a rock and holds it up in his hand. She winds back and Richie’s eyes go wide. Henry’s got a rock in his hand as he pins Mike to the ground, ready to pound his skull in. Chucking it hard, Beverly hits Henry in the face. He falls to the ground and Stanley looks at her.

“Nice throw!” he breathes.

“Thanks,”

Mike scrambles to the other side of the stream, the rest of the Losers picking up some rocks. Henry gets to his feet, furious. “You losers are trying too hard! She’ll do you; you just gotta ask nicely.” Beverly grits her teeth. “Like I did.”

Ben screams and Eddie fumbles with a rock. As Ben chucks it, it hits the top of Henry’s head.

“What the  _ fuck _ ?”

Beverly throws another one, the Bowers gang dropping down to pick up some rocks. 

“ROCK WA-A-AR!” shrieks Richie, then getting hit in the face with a rock.

“Richie!” barks Eddie. Richie scrambles to his feet as everyone throws rocks. Eddie roars, leaping into the stream and chucking more rocks. Richie’s mouth is tipped open in shock. He picks up a rock and hits Vic in the face, stopping him from chucking a rock at Eddie. Vic and Belch retreat, running off. Henry stares. As everyone starts to leave, Richie stands there, catching his breath. 

“Go blow your dad, you mullet wearing asshole!” he yells. Eddie grabs him by the ear, dragging Richie off as he raises his middle fingers towards the sky.

“Thanks but you shouldn’t have done that. He’ll be after you now too.” says Mike, moving his throwing arms around in his socket.

“Travis? He’s always after us.” Eddie answers. Richie rubs his ear as Eddie lets go of it.

“I-I guess that’s one thing we all have in common…” stutters Bill

***

It's July. Eddie’s sitting next to Richie, the gang gathered around in the park. Richie had given Eddie his glasses, the boy tracing the rims of Richie’s glasses.

“Okay, so, let me get this straight: It comes out from wherever to eat kids for like, a year, and then what? It just goes into hibernation?” he mutters.

“Maybe it's like, what do you call it... Cicadas. You know, the bugs that come out every seventeen years.” suggests Stanley, twiddling his thumbs. 

“My grandfather thinks this town is cursed.” Mike speaks up. “He says that all the bad things that happen in this town are because of one thing... an evil thing that feeds off the people of Derry.”

Stanley shifts. “But it can't be one thing. We all saw something different.”

“Maybe. Or maybe It knows what scares us most, and that's what we see.”

“I-I saw a Leper. He was like a walking infection.” blushes Eddie. Richie narrows his eyes.

“I thought you saw a clown?”

“A clown?”

“I saw one too.” says Bill. 

“Same here,” says Mike. “When I… When Bowers was, y’know.” Everyone nods. 

“But you didn't,” Stanley laughs nervously. “Because it isn't real. Not Eddie's Leper, or-or Bill seeing Georgie, the clown, or the woman I keep seeing!” Richie smiles, looking at Stanley.

“She hot?”

Eddie stops tracing the rims of Richie’s glasses and looks like he wished the leper had killed him. Stanley glares at him, squinting his eyes. “No, Richie. She's not hot! Her face is all messed up.” Stanley waves his arms. “None of this makes any sense! They're all like bad dreams.”

Mike starts shaking his head. “don't think so. I know the difference between a bad dream and real life, okay?”

“What'd you see? You saw something other than the clown?”

“Yes. You guys know that burned down house on Harris Avenue? I was inside when it burned down. Before I was rescued, my mom and dad were trapped in the next room over from me. They were pushing and pounding on the door, trying to get to me. But it was too hot. When the firemen finally found them, the skin on their hands had melted down to the bone. We're all afraid of something.”

Stanley sighs, looking to Richie, who’s staring at the clowns and children on the stage behind them, subconsciously tracing a circle on Eddie’s shoulder. “You got that right. All right, Rich, what are you afraid of?” Richie snaps back, quickly taking his hand off Eddie's shoulder. After a thought, he answers.

“Clowns.”

***

The losers sit around Bill’s projector, Bill sliding in a card. As he clicks the projector, a map of Derry appears over the sewer map. With a shaky breath, he points to a circled X on one of the sewers. “Look,” he says quietly. “That’s where… G-Ge-G-Georgie disappeared, there’s the ironworks and the black spot.” He takes a breath. “Everywhere it happens it’s all connected by the sewers. And they all meet up at--”

“The Well House,” Ben finishes.

The losers go silent.

Eddie takes a shaky breath, Richie watching him to make sure he doesn’t get too scared. It was where he had seen what Eddie didn’t want Richie to.

“It’s in the house on Neibolt street.”

Richie tries to lighten the mood. “You mean that place where all the junkies and hobos like to sleep?” Eddie rips his inhaler out of his fanny pack, taking a deep breath from it. Richie looks back to him as Eddie tries to breathe. Reaching forward, Richie gently starts to trace circles on his back. Eddie’s breathing continues to shake fearfully. 

“I hate that place,” says Beverly. “It always feels like it’s watching me.”

“That’s where I saw It,” mutters Eddie, his eyes filled with horror. He mustered enough courage to look back at the map. “That’s where I saw the clown.” Richie starts to use three fingers to trace the circles on Eddie’s back. Everyone stares at Eddie in worry.

“Th-tha-that’s where  _ It  _ lives.” states Bill. Eddie takes another puff from his inhaler. 

“I can’t imagine anything wanting to live there.”

“Can we stop talking about this?!” Eddie exclaims, bolting up out of his seat. He stands in front of the map. “I-I-I...I-I can barely breathe--” his breath is panicked and quick. Richie stands up as he looks at Eddie worriedly. “This-this is some--kids--I can barely breathe--”

“Eddie!” Richie tries, holding up his hands.

“I’m up here having a fucking asthma attack--” he takes another deep breath. “And I’m not doing this!” He turns around and rips the map down. Richie runs over and grabs Eddie by his forearms.

“What the hell?” says Bill.

“Calm down, Eds. Take a deep breath. It’s okay, I’m here.”

“Puth the map back!” Bill orders. Richie holds a hand up to Bill

“We will, we just need to--”

The projector switches, Eddie gasping for air. Everyone looks down to it.

Richie looks to the others as it switches again, then turning to see a picture of Georgie and his father in baseball outfits.

“What happened?” asks Richie. It continues to switch, Richie holding onto Eddie as they take steps away from the projector. “What’s going on?!”

“I got it, hold on.” says Mike. He bends over the projector as Richie grabs Eddie’s hand, whispering reassuring words to him. The projector continues to flip. “Guys--” Mike begins. Eddie and Richie look to the projector, the whole group staring at it in fear. 

It zooms in on…

“Georgie,” whispers Bill.

As soon as he does, it goes faster. Switching, switching, switching.

“Bill?” whimpers Stanley.

Everyone stands in silence, frozen. The projector gets faster and faster.

“Richie--”

“I’m here, Eds. I’m here--”

It moves up to the mother’s face, shrouded by her ginger hair. When it moves, it’s the clown. Eddie gasps, Richie pulling him into a hug. 

“ _ What the fuck is that!? _ ”

“Turn it off!  _ Turn it off!! _ ”

Mike kicks the projector over, Eddie screaming. As it points to the ceiling, it flickers, everyone staring at it. It changes.

Once, twice, three times.

The fourth time, the clown is gone. 

Everyone starts to breathe again when it appears again, hundreds of teeth filling its mouth.

“STANLEY!” shouts Bill, Eddie shrieking in fear. Stanley runs from the clown which starts to crawl through the garage. Cornering Beverly, it opens its mouth. She screams and covers her face, Mike and Bill throwing open the garage door.

The clown is gone. 


	3. Chapter 3

##  Chapter Three

Bill stands at the gate of the Well House, taking a slow step on the lawn. Another and another, he reaches the porch, muttering to himself.

“Bill!” cries Beverly. “Bill, you can’t go in there! This is crazy!” He turns to see the losers heading up after him. “Someone could get hurt!”

“I already said you don’t have to come in with me.” he states, looking at the six. “But what happens when another Georgie goes missing? Or another Betty? Or another Ed Corprim? Or one of  _ us _ ? Are you just going to pretend it isn’t happening like everyone else in this town? Because I can’t. Even if I wanted to, I can’t--” Mike and Ben exchange glances. “I go home and all I see is that Georgie isn’t there. His clothes, his toys, his stupid stuffed animals but Georgie--He isn’t.” Bill points to the Well house. “So walking into that house... For me it’s easier than walking into my own.”

***

“Wow, I can’t believe I pulled the short straw,” sighed Richie, following Bill into the house. “You guys are lucky you aren’t measuring dicks.”

The house creaks creepily, Richie and Bill taking it in. Eddie follows close behind. Climbing up the stairs, they reach the second floor. 

“Eugh, I can smell that…”

Richie turns to a cluster of cobwebs and barbed wire, pulling out a sheet of paper. His breathing quickens as he looks it over. “I-It… it says missing.” Richie begins to panic, showing it to Bill. “That’s my hair, that’s my face!”

“Calm down, calm down--”

“That’s my name, that's my age! That’s today’s date, what the fuck!” Eddie covers his mouth, watching as Richie shoves Bill. 

“Richie, calm down! It can’t be real! Calm down, calm down!” cries Eddie, grabbing Richie by the wrists. Richie stops, looking down to Eddie. “That isn’t real. It’s playing tricks on you.”

“H-hello?” calls a voice, the three turning around.

“Betty?” whispers Bill. 

“Seriously?” mutters Eddie, taking a step towards a doorway. Betty Ripsom lay on the ground, gasping for air with a panicked face. Tugged out of view, she screams, her voice echoing as it fades away. Richie and Bill continue forward.

“ _ Eddie… _ ” whispers a voice. He freezes, recognizing it as the voice from the sewer. Turning around slowly, he stares down the hall, glued in place. “ _ You’ll float too, Eddie… _ ”

Richie’s on the other side of the house, staring into a bedroom. “She was just here; what the fuck?”

Choking. 

Richie spins around and enters another room. “Eddie?” he whispers. “Eds, where the fuck are you?” He walks farther into the house. “We’re not playing hide and seek, dipshit! Where the hell are you?”

“Guys, do you hear that?” Eddie whispers, the door down the other hallway creaking open. His breathing escapes him. “Guys?” He turns around to see them disappear down the hall. “Guys! Guys!” Eddie sprints down the hall after them, but the floor opens up, Eddie freezing. “What the fuck?!” he shrieks.

“Eddie?!” Richie cries, Bill appearing in the doorway. Bill looks at him. “I heard Eddie scream--” the door slams shut, Richie's eyes going wide as he slams his hands against it, trying to twist the doorknob. “Open the door! Open the door!”

“I can’t!”

“Then go fucking find Eddie!” yells Richie, trying to open the door a few more times. Everything goes silent and a cloth falls, Richie freezing. He takes a breath as he turns around.

“RICHIE!  _ RICHIE! _ ” cries Eddie, unable to breathe.

“Eddie!” The door opens and Bill stands, staring at Eddie from the other side of the hole. 

“Where’s Richie--?”

“Eddie, behind you!” shouts Bill, Eddie spinning around to see another leper place a hand on his shoulder. Eddie faints, falling backwards into the hole. He falls into a table, breaking it in half. 

Richie’s staring back at a hundred clown puppets, each creepier than the last. “Shit,” he mutters. 

A clown cackles, Richie taking a step forward. As a puppet pops up next to him, Richie screams, scooting backwards. He takes a reassuring breath and turns back around to continue through. Tapping one’s face, it’s hollow, making Richie laugh to himself nervously, Another cloth is pulled off and he turns to see an opening coffin. Richie steps towards it slowly. 

“Oh,  _ fuck _ .” he says, seeing ‘found’ written on the coffin’s lid. Looking inside, he sees a puppet of himself with maggots all over it. He gags, slamming shut the lid. Pennywise leaps out, Richie screaming. As it lands on the lid, it grins, pinching the air.

“Beep beep, Richie.” Pennywise lunges and Bill grabs Richie by the shirt, pulling him out of the room. He slams the door shut and Richie pants, bending over to catch his breath. As he looks around, Richie's eyes go wide, grabbing Bill by the shirt.

“Where’s Eddie?!”

“Richie…” a small voice croaks. Richie turns to see Eddie kneeling in the corner of the room. He presses a hand to his chest, his shirt turning a deep red. “Help me, Richie,”

“ _ EDS! _ ” Richie cries. Bill grabs him.

“It’s not him, Richie! It’s not him!”

Eddie spits blood, hacking and he falls to his hands and knees. “It hurts, Richie… I thought--I thought you said you’d protect me?”

“ _ NO! NO, EDDIE! NO! _ ”

“IT’S NOT HIM! IT’S THE CLOWN!”

“TRASHMOUTH!” shrieks Eddie, looking furious. Richie and Bill scream.

Eddie gasps, bolting awake. He sits on the ground with his hand on his lap, breathing quickly. Looking to his arm, he whimpers, touching it carefully.

_ Tap tap tap, _

Eddie looks up to the fridge across from him. A hand pushes it up to reveal a folded up Pennywise. Eddie looks at it, horrified. It folds itself back, and stands still, staring at Eddie.

“Time to float,” he grins, taking a step towards Eddie. He backs up, unable to speak. Pennywise grabs Eddie by the throat, Eddie trying to hit him away. Pennywise grabs his hand and laughs, pretending to take a bite of Eddie’s hand.

“No, no, no, no--I don’t want to float, I don’t want to float!” he whispers, Pennywise pretending to take another bite. “Richie!”

“Oh, oh,” whines Pennywise, mocking him. “Richie’s left you here to die!” He grabs the crying Eddie and smiles.

Bill and Richie turned from the fake Eddie, facing three doors. 

Not scary at all, scary, very scary.

Richie and Bill share a look, throwing open the door marked ‘Not scary at all’. Throwing it open, it’s a closet, a voice whispering to them. Bill reaches and pulls the light, the upper body of Betty Ripsom hanging by her wrists. Bill and Richie scream, slamming the door shut. 

“Where the  _ fuck  _ were her legs?!” yells Richie, pressing himself against the door. 

“This isn’t real!” Bill tells him. “That’s not Eddie! That’s not Betty! Remember the missing kid poster; that wasn’t real so this isn’t real.”

“Then where the hell is Eddie?”

“Tasty, tasty, beautiful fear,” Pennywise says, tightening his grip on Eddie. Eddie cried, gasping for air. 

“No. No, Richie. Bill!”

Pennywise opens his mouth and it unfolds, ready to devour Eddie. 

Bill throws open the door and Richie sighs.

“Oh, thank fuck--”

“Eddie!” shouts Bill.

“RICHIE! BILL!” screams Eddie. “ _ HELP ME!  _ HELP!” 

“EDDIE!” Richie yells, sprinting down the hallway.

“Ri-Richie--!” Bill sprints after him.

“RICHIE, PLEASE! HE’S RIGHT--” Pennywise covers Eddie's mouth.

As Richie sprints down the hall, he grabs a plank of wood, gripping it with both hands. They throw open the door and Pennywise smiles. Richie holds the plank like a baseball bat.

“Richie,” whimpers Eddie. “Please, Richie.”

“This isn’t real enough for you, Billy?” Pennywise tilts his head. “I’m not real enough for you?”

“You…” Richie begins, stepping closer with a furious glare.

“How about you, Richie? What if I bite cute little Eddie Kaspbrak’s arm off?” Pennywise raises Eddie’s good arm, making Eddie cry, begging for Richie to help him. Richie’s mouth twitches. “Not much good without any arms… Would a missing arm be enough for you, Billy? It was real enough for Georgie!” Pennywise laughs and its mouth opens back up, Eddie’s good arm coming closer.

“God, no! Please, stop it! Stop, stop, stop--”

“NOBODY TOUCHES MY EDDIE SPAGHETTI EXCEPT FOR ME!” shrieks Richie. Pennywise lunges, but Richie smashes the wood plank against his head. “YIPPEE KI-YAY, MOTHERFUCKER!” Eddie watches as Richie goes to hit him again. Pennywise grabs the plank. Richie’s rage melts into dread.

“Oh, fucking hell.”

“RICHIE!” 

Richie screams as Pennywise opens its mouth and gets ready to bite, when it’s stabbed through the eye, Beverly yelling loudly. Eddie screams as Pennywise’s blood drips upward, the other losers running inside.

“EDDIE!” Richie yells, running to Eddie’s side. Holding his face in his hands, he looks over him. “Eddie, what happened?!”

“THAT FUCKING CLOWN CAME OUT OF THE FRIDGE AND TRIED TO FUCKING EAT ME!”

“We have to get out of here!”

“I CAN’T FUCKING MOVE MY ARM YOU DUMBASS!” Pennywise turns around, Eddie shrieking. Everyone turns to see the clown staring straight at Richie. “NO NO NO NO!”

“Come here, Eddie!” 

“Watch out!”

“Eddie, look at me! If we’re gonna die, I need to tell you something!”

“NO!” Eddie continues to scream, staring as Pennywise moves forward. The clown roars, Bill and Beverly moving. Eddie and Richie are backed up against the cupboard. It laughs. Turning around, he slashes Ben, who cries in pain. Pennywise laughs even more. Slinking away into the hallway, Pennywise disappears, Richie and Eddie clutching each other. Eddie’s face is buried in Richies shoulder.

“Don’t let him get away!”

“BILL, YOU MORON!” howls Eddie. “BILL!”

“Bill!” 

Bill runs back into the room, Richie shaking Eddie’s shoulders. Eddie screams in pain as the shock and fear washes away.

“Okay, I’m gonna--I’m gonna snap your arm into place!” yells Richie.

“DO NOT FUCKING TOUCH ME!”

“One...!”

“I SWEAR, DO NOT TOUCH ME--”

“Two!”

“No, no, no, no!” Beverly shouts.

“ _ Three! _ ”

“NO--” Grabbing Eddie’s arm, Richie snaps it back. Eddie screams, Richie looking back at Eddie. “I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!”

“Let’s get out of here!” shouts Mike.

“Get him on my back!” Bill hoists Eddie up as Richie kneels down, Bill putting him on his back. “Hold on, Eddie! Hold on!”

“Oh my god I can’t feel my hand--”

Grabbing his legs, Richie stands up and runs out of the house after his friends. Eddie sobs as he wraps his arms tightly around Richie’s neck. 

“What about his bike?”

“FORGET THE FUCKING BIKE, WE’RE BEING CHASED BY A MURDEROUS CLOWN!” Eddie snarls. Richie drops Eddie on the back of his bike and hops on. As Richie places his feet on the pedals, he yells at Eddie.

“Use the pegs, use the pegs!” Eddie moves his feet back, and hugs Richie, pressing himself against his back as he locks his arms around his waist.

“GO, RICHIE!  _ GO! _ ”

Richie heads off, following the others. He places a hand on Eddie’s arm as they make it a safe distance away. “You’re okay now, Eds.” whispers Richie. “I’ve got you. You’re safe.” Richie calls out to the other losers. “Eddie’s got a bunch of supplies at his house!”

“My mom’s home!” he whimpers.

“Who cares, Eds! I need to patch you up!”

“But I’ll never be able to see you or the losers again--”

Richie sighs. “I know, Eds.”

The losers drop their bikes and sprint inside, Richie carefully getting off his own. He grabs Eddie and helps him off, the bike falling to the ground. Eddie and Richie stare at each other, Eddie looking up to Richie. Their noses were so close they almost touched.

“Are you okay?”

“Better,” mutters Eddie, blushing.

“Good, because I’m about ready to have a heart attack you scared me so bad--” 

Eddie throws Richie into a hug, letting out a shaky breath. Richie freezes, his whole face going red. “Thanks for saving me,”

Richie smiles dumbly, hugging him back. Eddie smiles. “No problem Eds,” When Eddie lets go, Richie laughs nervously. “I mean, I promised I’d protect you, didn’t I?”

Eddie smiles. “Yeah, you did.”

“Well, I almost did,” Richie whispers. “I did let you get hurt--”

Without thinking, Eddie closes his eyes and goes to move his head forward, when--

“EDDIE-BEAR!” Eddie and Richie turn to see Mrs. K running out of her house, crying. She pushes Richie away and grabs Eddie’s arm. 

“Mommy--” Richie looks at Eddie, who looks more frightened now then he did when Richie and he were cornered by Pennywise. “It’s not their fault, I just--” Pulling Eddie’s broken arm close to her, Eddie winced. “Ow!”

“Oh, dear--It’s broken! Oh, my!” she grabs him by the other arm, dragging him to her car. She points to the losers. “You. You did this. You know how delicate he is!”

“We were attacked, Mrs. K.”

“No. Don't. Don't try and blame anyone else.” 

“Richie--” Eddie meets eyes with Richie, who reaches for him.

Mrs. K smacks Richie’s hand away. “Don’t speak to them Eddie-bear, these people are not your friends!” Mrs. K drops her car keys, Beverly heading to help.

“Here--”

“Get back! Oh, I've heard of you, Miss Marsh. And I don't want a dirty girl like you touching my son.”

“Mom, she’s not dirty--”

“Shut up, Eddie!”

“Mrs. K!” yells Richie. 

Eddie is shoved into the car, Mrs. K slamming the door shut. Eddie presses a hand to the window and Richie presses his own. “No! You are all monsters. All of you. And Eddie is done with you. Do you hear? Done!” She marches over to the driver's seat, Eddie calling out to the losers. As Mrs. K gets in, Richie watches, unmoving. 

“ _ Richie! _ ” comes the muffled voice of Eddie through the glass. Mrs. K tears out to drive to the hospital.

There’s a string of silence before Bill speaks up.

“I saw the well. We know where It is and next time we'll be better prepared.” he says, making Stanley turn around. 

“No! No next time, Bill! You're insane!”

“Why? We all know no one else is going to do anything.” Beverly defends. 

“Because Eddie was nearly killed because of us! Because of me!” Richie shouts. The losers back up. “God knows if we’re ever going to see him again! What am I supposed to do, huh?! Eddie might never want to talk to me again after hearing his mom’s shit for a week!” Turning to Ben, Richie pointed to him as he looked to Bill and Beverly. “And look at this motherfucker. He's leaking hamburger helper! What are we gonna do about that, huh? Eddie’s not here to patch him up this time!”

“We can't pretend It's gonna go away. Ben, you said it yourself, It comes back every twenty-seven years.” Beverly exclaims.

“Fine! I'll be 40 and far away from here. I thought you said you wanted to get out of this town, too.”

“Because I wanna run towards something. Not away!”

Richie holds up a hand. “I'm sorry, who invited Molly Ringwald into the group?” Beverly glares at Richie and gives him her middle finger right up to the sky, gritting her teeth.

“Richie,” starts Stanley.

“No! I promised Eddie I’d keep him safe, and look how well that turned out. I'm just saying, let's face facts. Real world. Georgie is dead. Stop trying to get us killed, too.” 

Bill was getting angry, taking a forceful step to Richie. “G-Ge-Geor-Georgie's not dead.”

“You couldn't save him, but you can still save yourself.”

“No, take it back. You're scared and we all are, but take it back!” Pushing Richie back, the dark-haired boy pushed back, only for Bill to land a fist right in his face.

“Bill!”

“You're just a bunch of losers! Fuck off!” shouts Richie, Stanley and Mike holding him back from Bill.

“Guys, stop!”

“You're just a bunch of losers and you'll get yourselves killed trying to catch a fucking stupid clown!” Richie continues. Ben holds Bill back, tears streaming down Richie's face.

“Stop! This is what It wants! It wants to divide us. We were all together when we hurt It.  _ That’s  _ why we're still alive!” Beverly scolds.

“Look around. We’re not all together anymore, and I plan to keep the staying alive thing the way it is now.” Richie pushes past Bill and hesitates before getting on his bike. He gets on and rides for a while, before stopping outside the Well House. He stares at it before he continues on his way until he gets home.

***

**August**

Eddie sits at the pharmacy, nervously twiddling with his cast. “You here for the refills, Eddie?” asks Mr. Keene, Eddie nodding. As the old pharmacist walks off, he can’t help but stare out the pharmacy window behind him, hoping to see a familiar face wearing thick-rimmed glasses. He doesn’t.

“You know it's all bullshit, right?”

Eddie turns to see Gretta Keene staring at him, popping a bubble from her bubblegum. Eddie smiles nervously. “W-What is?”

She raises an eyebrow. “Your medication. They're placebos.”

“What's placebo mean?” 

“Placebo means bullshit.” Gretta eyes the cast. “Didn’t your loser friends sign your cast?” Eddie shifts.

“Um, I-I’m not allowed to talk to them anymore. M-My mom is kinda--” She gives him a fake frown. “I didn’t want to get it dirty,” he says.

“I’ll sign it for you.” Grabbing a black sharpie, Gretta started to scrawl a five letter word on his cast. Eddie’s heart dropped as he read the word ‘LOSER’ in capital letters. Giving him a wink, she heads into the backroom as Mr. Keene returns, placing the bottle of refills on the table. Eddie takes them.

“Thanks Dr. Keene,” he mumbles. Heading out the door, Eddie looked to his left before letting the door shut behind him.

“WATCH OUT!”

Eddie turns to see a boy hit him head on with his bike, the boy’s glasses flying through the air. Eddie caught them before they hit the ground and shattered. “Hey, watch where you’re going moron! I’ve got a broken arm here and--” Eddie stops to see Richie squinting at him.

“Eddie?”

“Richie!” he cries, throwing him into a hug. Richie blinks.

“Eds, I can’t see shit, man.” Eddie blushes, taking a step back. Fumbling with Richie’s glasses, he slides them back on Richie’s face, the boy regaining his surroundings. Richie grins. “Fancy seeing you here, my dear Watson!” he says, Eddie smiling. “Might you be needing a walk home?”

Richie and Eddie walked side-by-side, Richie smiling at his best friend. “So you’ve been playing Streetfighter? I would have thought Bill had dragged you guys back to the Well House.” Eddie looks up, Richie’s smile fading. “What?”

Richie scratches the back of his neck. “Uh, we haven’t talked since you left,”

Eddie’s shocked. “What, why?”

“Well, after your mom drove off with you, Bill insisted we go back.” Eddie studies Richie’s face. “I got pissed because you broke your arm and almost died and Bill didn't seem to care.”

“But I didn’t die,”

“You almost did!” Richie snaps. “I promised you I’d protect you and you still broke your fucking arm! That thing seperated us and tried to eat you for lunch, okay?” Eddie stares. “What happens when it seperates us for real?” Richie’s panicking, throwing one of his arms up. “What happens when it takes you? I mean, for all we know that thing was going to take you instead of Georgie last October!”

“Richie, it’s okay. I’m alive.”

Richie sighs, looking at the ground. “I’m sorry,” he mutters. Looking to Eddie, he motions to the cast. “Anyway, who the hell wrote that on your cast?”

Eddie blushes, looking embarrassed. “...Greta Keene.”

“Do you have a sharpie?”

“Just a red one.”

Richie smiles. “I’ll fix it for you.”

Eddie seems shocked. Reaching into his fanny pack, he hands him the red sharpie. Richie takes it and gently holds Eddie’s arm. “Tell me if I bend your arm wrong or something. Now don’t look.” Eddie smiles nervously and nods, looking in the other direction. He hears the marker scratching against his cast, resisting the urge to peek. “There,” Richie lets go of Eddie’s arm, the boy looking to see a red V scratched over the S to make the word Lover instead of Loser. Eddie turned bright red, debating on which one was actually the one he could handle people seeing.

Finally, he smiles. “Thanks, Richie.”

“Not a problem, Eds.”

“Um, how about we meet up at the arcade to play some Street Fighter tomorrow?” Eddie suggests, trying to supress all the thoughts of the germs in his mind. Richie looks up in shock. “I mean I don’t know how to play, but if you’re as good as everyone says you’ll be able to teach me, right?”

Richie grins. “You’re seriously going to touch all that shit covered in grease, snot and--”

“Okay, Richie. Shut up before I change my mind and refuse to go!” winces Eddie, making Richie throw his head back and laugh.

“Of course, my Eddie Spaghetti. I’ll meet you there at noon. Streetfighter is the second game in.” As Richie mounts his bike and rides off, he gives Eddie one last wave. Eddie smiles, watching Richie turn the street before Eddie runs into his house. 

“I’m home,” he says quickly, sprinting up to his room with a big smile on his face. His mother watches in confusion, Eddie slamming his bedroom door shut. Sitting at his desk, he pulls out a ballpoint pen, a sheet of paper and an envelope. Eddie writes a letter he’d never give to the person addressed to, but would keep it in a special place that only Eddie knew about.

Folding it up and inserting it into the envelope, Eddie sealed it shut and wrote the name on the front. “Eddie-bear?” Eddie panicked, shoving it into his fanny pack. Eddie’s mom opened the door. She looked him up and down. “You’re lunch is ready,”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks, mommy.”

***

Richie had shown up early, a big smile on his face as he went over to the token machine and got enough for him and Eddie to play a few times. He had some extra money in case Eddie wanted to play more or get some ice cream with him. As soon as he got the tokens, Richie turned to look out the window. Eddie was standing in the street, staring up at the statue in the park. Richie smiled.

“Eddie!” he whispered, pocketing the coins. As he stepped out of the arcade, Eddie turned to him, smiling. Richie stopped as his smile dropped. Pennywise was standing right behind Eddie. “EDDIE!” he screams. Eddie turns around and Pennywise grabs him, trying to use his good arm to hit Pennywise off of him.

“RICHIE!” Eddie shrieks.

“No, no, no, no, NO!” Richie takes off, running as fast as he can to Eddie, but Pennywise is faster, starting down an empty road. 

“Let me go, let me go!” Eddie cries, Pennywise just laughing. 

Richie’s gaining until Pennywise drops down, sliding into the sewer drain, dragging a screaming Eddie along with them. As soon as they disappear, everything goes silent. Richie drops to his hands and knees, staring into the sewer. “Eddie?” he whispers, inching closer. “Eddie, oh please god--”

“Boo!” Richie falls back and Pennywise laughs. Richie gasped in fear.

“Where is he, you bastard? Where’s Eddie?!”

Pennywise made a face. “Hm, Eddie? Don’t know him.”

Richie slapped the ground with his hand, getting closer to the sewers. “Bullshit! Give me back my Eds!” Pennywise grinned.

“Ohh, you mean,  _ this  _ Eddie?” Pennywise lifted a panicking Eddie, covering his mouth so he couldn’t scream. Richie flinched. “Eds, Eddie, Eddie Spaghetti… Oh, Dr. K… got any more, Richie?” Eddie pushed at the clown, tears streaming down his face.

“Give him back,” 

“No, no, no…”

“Bastard!” yells Richie. He stops, looking at Eddie. Slowly he stands up. Pennywise uncovers Eddie’s mouth.

“R-Richie?”

“That’s not Eddie.” Pennywise narrows his eyes. “Eddie’s back at the arcade, isn’t he?” Richie smirks. “Eddie’s eyes aren’t brown,” he says. “That’s not Eddie, you piece of shit!”

“Richie, Richie, Richie…” Pennywise roars, grabbing Richie by his ankle. Richie screams, trying to pull away. “Time to float,” Richie lets out a frightened yell as he disappears, Pennywise letting out his own laugh.

Eddie raced through his house, grabbing a few dollars before heading for the door. His mother stepped in front of him. “And just where do you think you're off to?” Eddie pauses, pondering whether or not he should tell his mother the truth. Eddie takes a deep breath.

“I’m going to meet Richie.”

“Richie? The boy who let you get hurt? Sweetie, you can't go. You're getting over your sickness, remember?”

Eddie grits his teeth. “My sickness? Okay, what sickness, Ma?” reaching into his fanny pack, Eddie holds them up for her to see. “You know what these are? They're gazebos!” He chucks them down as hard on the grown as he can, the pills scattering. “They’re bullshit!” he shouts. His mother looks down at the pills before looking back up to her son.

“They help you, Eddie. I had to protect you.”

“Protect me?” he scoffs. “By lying to me? By keeping me locked inside this hellhole?!” His mother stares at him. “I'm sorry, but the only person who was actually trying to protect me was Richie. Richie and my friends! And you kept me from them when I really needed them. So I'm going.”

Pushing past his mother, he opens the door. “Eddie. Eddie. No. You get back here!” Throwing open the door, Eddie sprints off with a big smile on his face, his mother shouting at him. “Eddie! Don't do this to me, Eddie!”

Eddie keeps running until he reaches downtown. Pushing open the arcade door, Eddie looks to Street Fighter. The game is empty. As a kid walks by, Eddie stops him.

“Um, have you seen a boy with black glasses here?”

“Richie Tozier?” asks the kid. Eddie nods. “Yeah, he just ran out the door not too long ago. Looked like he saw a ghost.” The kid walks off and Eddie unzips his fanny pack, fishing around for his inhaler. The envelope falls out, sliding under the Street Fighter machine. Eddie falls to the ground and tries to grab it to no avail.

Something red catches his eye.

As Eddie turns, he sees a red balloon bump into the window. His eyes go wide.

“Oh, no. Richie!” he jumped to his feet and ran out the door to see another balloon on a mailbox down the road. Someone screams. Eddie goes after the balloon, trying not to cry. “Please, please, please don’t be dead, don’t be--” 

Eddie stops and stares at the ground.

Right next to a sewer drain are Richie’s glasses, a crack running through one of the lenses.

“RICHIE!” Eddie picks up the glasses and stares at the sewer drain. His breathing goes quick as he hears faint screaming coming from inside. “Richie--” 

Turning around, Eddie runs off, making his way to the first house he could think of. 

“BEVERLY! BEVERLY, PLEASE!” He turns the corner to his house to see Beverly and Bill on their bikes, just about to ride off. “B-Bill, B-B-Beverly--” Tears come from his eyes and they drop their bikes, running over to Eddie.

“Eddie, what happened? What’s wrong?”

“He--the clown--I can’t--I’m never gonna--His glasses--”

Bill holds Eddie’s shoulders, shaking him a bit. Beverly covers her mouth. “Who’s glasses?” asks Bill. “Calm down and tell us.”

“Bill,” Beverly whispers, pointing to Richie’s glasses held tight in Eddie’s hand.

“Where’s Richie?”

“It--It--” Eddie takes a deep breath. “ _ It  _ took him.”

“Oh,  _ shit _ .”

Richie gasps, bolting awake as blood drips on his face. “Ah, fuck!” he shouts, getting to his feet. Wiping the blood from his cheek, he shudders, looking disgusted. “Oh, my glasses--” he says, patting the ground. 

The sound of a carnival plays, making Richie jump, looking back and squinting, he can barely make out a carnival themed wall with the clown's face on it. The words ‘PENNYWISE, THE DANCING CLOWN!’ are written as well. Richie turns around and looks for an exit, making out a door. Running over, he tugs on the handles. 

“Shit--” he breathes. “Open the fuck up!”

“Step right up, Richie. Step right up!” calls Pennywise, Richie spinning around. “Come change. Come float. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll cheer. You'll die.” Riche watches as a musical jack-in-the-box, the wall coming down to reveal a stage. “Introducing Pennywise the Dancing Clown.” 

Emerging, Pennywise starts to dance, Riche looking for an exit. Spying an open hatch as Pennywise gets closer, Richie sprints towards the hatch but Pennywise stops him. As Pennywise holds him up by his throat, Richie swings his legs back and forth.

“I’m… not… afraid of you!” he sneers. “You’re just… You’re just a dumb… clown!”

Pennywise sniffs Richie, then stares at him. “You will be.” Pennywise’s mouth folds back, three bright orange lights shining in the back of his throat. Richie’s eyes gloss over and his arms drop to his side.

Eddie and the losers stand outside the Well House, Eddie clutching Richies glasses. Opening them up, Eddie puts them on the top of his head, taking a deep breath.

“Guys, spikes.” says Bill, pointing to the loose parts of the fence. Eddie takes off his fanny pack, Bill and Beverly taking pieces of the fence. Mike brandishes his sheep-killing gun

“Flashlights?” Bill asks. Everyone nods. As they walk in, one by one, Bill leads, Eddie eager to follow.

“Stan?” Ben asks. Everyone turns to see Stanley standing still in the doorway.

“Stan, we all have to go. Beverly was right and Richie knew it. If we split up like last time, that clown will kill us one by one. But if we stick together, all of us, we'll win. I promise.” Bill tells him. Stanley slowly nods, walking in. 

Moving through the house, Eddie picks up a wooden board smeared with blood, likely from when Richie hit Pennywise over the head and they keep moving. When they reach the well, everyone stares down,

“I wouldn't want to make a wish in that fucking thing.” Eddie mutters, narrowing his eyes. “Richie?” he calls. Stanley and Ben give him a sad glance.

“How are we supposed to get down there?”

“Guys!” says Beverly, pointing to some rope.

“How safe,”

As they tie it in place, everyone looks around at each other. “So, uh--who wants to go first?” Eddie doesn’t speak, but grabs the rope.

“I’m the lightest. I’ll go.” he states, starting to go down the rope. He descends until he finds a big hole in the well wall, swinging into it. “Come on! The entrance is here!”

“All right, come on.” Mike says, waving everyone on. Bill heads in, then Beverly. Ben goes next. Stanley goes before Mike. 

“Guys, guys. Help.” Ben grunts, the three pulling him in. Eddie turns and stares into the passageway. He starts inside, coming out to see an even larger one, running two ways.

“Eddie?”

“R-Richie?”

“ _ MIKE! _ ” scream Ben, Bill and Beverly, Stanley shouting in fear. Eddie turns back to the losers, crawling back into the passage.

“Die!” shouts Henry, 

“You okay? Mike!” The losers go silent as Henry is suddenly staring down the well at them. “Bowers,” Eddie gulps.

“Mike. Fuck.”

“Mike!” Beverly repeats.

“Where is he?” Ben asks.

“I don’t know, but we’re next.”

“No, no, no! Grab it!” shouts Stanley as Henry grabs the rope, starting to pull it from the well. 

“Get the rope, get the rope! Oh, shit--!” Eddie grabs it, looking down to the bottomless black below them. He shrieks, the other four trying to pull him back in. “Help, help, help, help,  _ help! _ ”

“Mike!” Bill roars.

“Mike!” yells Stanley. Henry turns away from the losers to face Mike, the others pulling Eddie back in. “Leave him alone!”

“You didn't listen to what I told you, did you? You should've stayed out of Derry. Your parents didn't; and look what happened to them. I still get sad every time I pass by that pile of ashes. Sad, that I couldn't have done it myself.” snarls Henry. 

“Run, Mike!”

“Mike!”

“I should get up there--” Bill starts, Eddie grabbing his shirt. 

“Are you insane?! With what?!” As soon as Eddie says it, Henry Bowers screams, falling into the well. Everyone shouts. “Holy shit!” cries Eddie.

“I'm okay!” says Mike, peeking his head out. He throws the rope down. “I'm okay…”

Mike climbs down and everyone helps him in. Eddie turns around. “Stan? Stanley?!”

“What?” asks Mike.

“Guys, where's Stan?” sharing a look of fear, they leap out of the passegway, running after Bill and Eddie. “Stanley! Stanley! Stan--!” Eddie skids to a stop, the others continuing forward. “Oh, shit. Greywater.” Eddie bites his lip nervously. Taking steps in, he walks in after the group. “Stanley!”

There’s a scream, everyone immediately picking up the pace. 

“Shit! Stan!”

“Stanley!”

“We’re coming, man!”

“Stanley! Stan! His flashlight!” Eddie cries, pointing to it. Picking it up, Beverly looks it over. Eddie looks back up and shines his light, seeing a lady with a horrible face biting Stanley’s. He screams. “What the fuck is that thing? Oh, shit! Oh,  _ shit _ !” 

“Stanley!”

The ugly woman scurries off, everyone running up to his side. “No! No! No!” he howls. “You left me! You took me into Neibolt! You're not my friends! You made me go into Neibolt! You made me go into Neibolt! This is your fault!” Calming Stanley down, Bill shakes him a bit.

“Eddie? Is that you, Eddie?”

“Richie!” Eddie takes off, the others staring at him.

“Eddie! Eddie, no!” Beverly cries. “It’s not him!”

Mike runs after him as Bill and Ben help Stanley up. “Eddie, stop!” Not hearing them, Eddie runs the corner, sprinting towards Richie, who turns around to smile at him.

“Richie!” gasps Eddie, throwing the wood plank aside. He rushes to Richie and beams, hugging him. Richie hugs him back. “You’re okay! God, I thought you were dead, and--”

“Why’d you leave me, Eds?”

Eddie looked puzzled, laughing nervously. “W-what?” Breaking the hug, he moves back and opens his eyes, but Richie grabs his arms, digging his nails into his arm. “Ow! Richie that hurts--”

“I promised I’d protect you. You can’t leave me.”

“Richie, I think your nails are making me bleed,” Eddie looked to Richie, who was glaring at him with a strong hatred.

“We can float together, Eddie.” Eddie’s eyes widened, the sound of his friends’ screaming drawing near. “We can float together. Don’t you want to float together?” Eddie grit his teeth. 

“You’re not Richie. Richie would never hurt me!” Slamming his heel on Richie’s, he howled, pushing Eddie over. Eddie screamed, covering his eyes. “You’re not Richie! You’re not real!” Richie kicked Eddie hard, sending him over on his stomach. “Stop, please!” He kicked him under his stomach, kicking the breath out of Eddie. Eddie tried to crawl away, but Richie picked Eddie up and threw him on his back. Eddie stared up at Richie in fear. “You’re not Richie, you’re  _ not Richie! _ ”

“Say it again,” snarls Richie, raising his foot. “And I’ll kill you, my Eddie Spaghetti.”

“Eddie!” Mike picked up the wood plank, swinging it hard at Richie. Collapsing to the ground, the fake Richie disappeared as he hit the water. 

Eddie repeated to himself. “It’s not real, it’s not real!”

“Eddie!” Beverly shouts, taking Eddie’s hands off his face. “Calm down, it’s okay. That wasn’t Richie.”

“It wasn't Richie,” mutters Eddie. “It wasn’t,” Eddie gets to his feet, shakily getting his flashlight. He switches it on, taking a deep breath as the other kids turn the corner. Eddie looks to their left. “Where’s Bill?”

“Fucks sake!” shouts Mike. “We save one, we lose another!”

“Let’s go,” Beverly orders. 

“Bill!” shouts Stan, the six running through another tunnel. Entering, they all stop, their mouths ajar as they stare up at hundreds of toys, bodies and objects floating in midair.

“Oh god. ‘You’ll float too’,” Eddie quotes, looking up at the mass. “The missing kids... floating.”

“Shit,” mutters Beverly. Eddie gasps, pointing. 

“There! Richie, I’m coming!” he shouts, sprinting off towards Richie’s floating body, staring up at the mass of bodies. “Richie! He’s floating!”

“How--how is he in the air?” 

Eddie jumps, trying to reach up and grab Richie. “Help me up, help me up!”

“Your arm--”

“Fuck my arm! Get me up there!” Reaching for him, Eddie grunts, off balance. “I'm slipping!” Pushing him up higher, Eddie grabs Richie’s ankle, pulling him back down. Eddie smiles. “Richie, we got you, I’m here--” Eddie’s smile fades and he looks into Richie’s white eyes. “Richie? Richie! Why isn't he waking up?! What is wrong with him?!” 

“Eddie!”

“Goddammit Richie, you have to be alive! You can’t be dead! You can’t! Richie, please! Come on!” Eddie starts to cry, shaking him. “Richie…” he whispers. Beverly covers her mouth as Eddie hugs him, sobbing into his shoulder. Sniffling, Eddie gently presses his lips to Richie’s cheek. “Please don’t leave me…”

“E-Eds?” whispers Richie, Eddie looking up to Richie. He’s squinting, trying to make out his face. “Oh, shit. The clown got you, too?”

“Richie!” Eddie sobs, smiling. “You’re alive! You’re not dead!”

“Dead? No, I’m not dead, you moron. But I am completely lost on what’s going on. I can’t see  _ shit;  _ have you seen my glasses--?” Eddie stands on his tippy toes and grabs Richie’s shirt collar to pull him down, Eddie pushing his lips against Richie’s. Richie’s eyes go wide as he flushes a deep red. When Eddie lets go of him, Richie tilts backwards, falling over. 

“Riche!”

“I-I’m okay…” he mutters, lovestruck. “So, Eddie--” Eddie turns pink as his actions register in his mind. “I just have to get taken by a crackhead clown for you to kiss me? Man, I should have done that a  _ long  _ time ago.” Eddie smiles, laughing. “But seriously, where the fuck are my glasses? You’re a pale blur to me.” Taking Richie’s glasses off his head, Eddie slides them on Richie's face, the boy smiling as soon as he sees Eddie. His eyebrows furrow. “What the fuck? Your arms are bleeding!”

“Alright, love birds. Let’s go find Bill.”

“Bill?” asks Richie. “What has that idiot got himself into now?”

“Come on, let’s go!”

“Can he kiss me again?”

“Shut up, Richie!”

“Okay, okay, fine!”

As they round around, they turn to see Bill standing in front of Georgie. Eddie grabs Richie. Georgie stares up at Bill, who shakes.

“I was looking for you this whole time,” he tells him. Georgie looks scared. 

“I couldn’t find my way out of here,” he whimpers. “I’m sorry I didn’t bring the boat back, Billy.”

Bill sniffs back tears, smiling. “Was she fast?”

“I couldn’t keep up with it.”

There’s silence, the sound of water pouring from the sewers surrounding the eight. “‘She’, Georgie,” whispers Bill. “You call boats ‘she’.”

~~ “Alright, dumbass. I couldn’t keep up with she.” ~~

More silence, Georgie taking a step forward. “Take me home, Billy.” Georgie begins to cry. “I wanna go home! I miss you; I wanna be with mom and dad!”

Bill starts to cry as well. “I want more than anything for you to be home.” He takes a broken breath. “Mom… and dad…” Bill takes a step forward. “I miss you so much.”

Georgie looks up to Bill. “I love you, Billy.”

“I love you too.” Bill holds up Mike’s gun, pointing it to Georgie’s face. The boy starts to whimper. “But you’re not Georgie!” Pulling the trigger, Georgie’s eyes go wide as he falls to the ground. He lays there, lifeless.

Suddenly, he begins to shake, his arms swinging around as his second one grows back. Snarling, screaming and roaring, Georgie starts to change, the losers backing up. His arms double in size, then his legs, Mike holding up the board. Pennywise gasps as he sits up, then standing up.

“Kill it, kill it!” the losers scream, Bill cocking Mike’s gun. 

“Hey! It’s not loaded!” shouts Mike. Bill pulls the trigger and a hole forms in the clown’s head. Pennywise bends backwards and shakes his head, roaring at the losers. Eddie and Richie scream, clinging to each other. Falling backwards, Bill screams.

“Bill watch out!” Richie calls, Bill throwing up his flashlight. Pennywise chomps down on it, snarling. 

Beverly goes to stab it with the fence post, but Pennywise grabs it, staring at her.

“Beverly, no!” shouts Ben. “Mike!” Mike slides in front of her and holds up the plank, ready to strike. Pennywise throws Mike against the wall.

Eddie lets go of Richie, grabbing a fence post from Bill. Screaming, he jumps onto Pennywise’s back, holding his mouth back with the post. “Eddie!” Richie jumps on Pennywise as well, wrapping his arms around its throat. Stanly grabbed one of its arms and Ben the other, all four screaming. 

Swinging its arms, Stanley files backwards and hits another wall. Ben tumbles over. As it reaches back, Pennywise rips Richie off his back, throwing him away. Richie looks up.

“Richie, no!”

“Eddie!” 

Pennywise grabs Eddie off his back, laughing. Holding him up by the back of his shirt, Eddie tried to push Pennywise’s hand off. “What a tasty, small snack before my meal.” As Pennywise opens his mouth, Richie screams.

Eddie grits his teeth. “I’m not. That. SMALL!” he shouts. Raising the pole, he yells. “Eat shit, you ugly fucking clown!” 

Bringing the fence pole across Pennywise’s face, the clown howls, dropping Eddie. Hitting the ground, Eddie winced, Richie pulling him into his arms. Looking up, Pennywise turned back, his mouth still wide, shrieking at the two. Eddie and Richie stared at it in horror, both hugging each other tightly. Eddie buries his head in Richie’s shoulder.

“NO!” screams Bill, jumping in front of them. He picked up the fence pole and held it up. Pennywise hesitated. “L-l-leave then alone!”

Richie hugs Eddie. “Bill, no! Bill!” he breathes.

Pennywise grabs Bill and he screams, Richie’s eyes going wide. As Pennywise jumps back, he holds Bill still, looking to the losers. Richie helps Eddie back, still holding him close. 

“Bill!” Beverly shouts. “No!” Pennywise chokes Bill, still stepping back. Bill tries to pull Pennywise off. “No, stop! Let him go!”

“No,” hisses Pennywise. “I’ll take him!” Eddie looks back. “I’ll take  _ all of you _ !” Richie moves Eddie farther away from Pennywise, Eddie gulping. “And I’ll  _ feast  _ on your flesh as I feed on your fear.” Pennywise raises a shaking finger. “Or,” Pennywise smiles, covering Bill’s face. “You just leave us be. I’ll take him,  _ only  _ him… Then I’ll have my long rest and you will all live to grow, and thrive, and lead happy lives! Until old age takes you back to the weeds.”

“Leave!” Bill gasps. “I’m the one who dragged you all into this. I’m… I’m s-s-s-so s-sorry…”

“S-s-s-s-sorry,” mocks Pennywise. He chuckles. 

“Go!”

“Guys, we can’t!” Beverly says, looking to the losers. 

Richie lets go of Eddie, but continues to hold his hand. Giving a glance to him, Eddie nods, letting go. He takes a step forward. “I told you, Bill. I fucking told you. I don’t wanna die.” Richie licks his lips. “It’s your fault.” He turns to the side. “You almost got Eddie killed, you punched me in the face… You made me walk through shitty water, you brought me to a fucking crackhead house--” he takes a deep breath. “You got me kidnapped by a ugly-ass monster!” he pauses. “You did get me a kiss from Eds, I’ll give you that.”

“Richie!” Eddie says.

“I’m making a point, Eddie.” Picking up a baseball bat, Richie takes a deep breath. “And now? I’m gonna have to kill this fucking clown.” Pennywise roars, leaping toward Richie. “Welcome to the Losers Club, asshole!” he screams, hitting Pennywise across the face with the bat. Its neck turns to a 90 degree angle. Richie looks back to Eddie. 

“If I die, I love you, dude.”

“What do you mean, ‘if you die’?! I didn’t save your ass just to have your neck snapped by this crackhead!” Richie grabs Eddie and kisses him again before spinning around, going to hit Pennywise. Swinging the bat, hands reach out of Pennywise’s mouth, grabbing the bat. It pulls Richie forward, Richie struggling to get away. “Richie!”

Stanley picks up a sharp object and swings it down, cutting off the arms. Bill hits Pennywise from the back. It runs at Stanley, but Stanley doesn’t hesitate, swinging it again. Pennywise staggers back and Mike sends a blow.

Pennywise grabs Mike and throws him down, crab-like arms slamming on the ground as Mike rolls out of the way. Ben slams the fence post into its stomach, Pennywise’s arms retract, his head turning around to face Ben. Seaweed grabs him, pulling his head closer to its mouth. Bill picks up a chain, starting to smack the clown with it. Everyone joins in, Pennywise falling at Eddie’s feet. Throwing up, vomit covers Eddie completely. The losers stare at Eddie in shock.

Wiping his face clean, Eddie’s face is furious. Richie drops his bat and covers his ears, knowing exactly what’s coming.

“ _ I’M GONNA KILL YOU! _ ” Eddie shrieks at the top of his lungs. Eddie stands up and kicks Pennywise’s jaw, sending him backwards. Richie stares in awe.

As Pennywise looks up, it has the head of Mr. Marsh, staring up at Beverly. “Hey Bevie,” he says. “Are you still my little girl--?” Beverly screams, stabbing her fence pole down Pennywise’s throat.

It’s face returning to normal, Pennywise gags, spitting it out.

“Oh, shit!” 

Pennywise falls backwards, backing away from the losers. They corner it as it gasps like it can’t breathe. It laughs. 

“That’s why you didn’t kill Richie,” says Bill. “Because he w-w-w-wasn’t afraid of you.” Eddie stares, Richie grabbing his hand. “And we aren’t either. Not anymore.” Bill pauses. “Now you’re the one afraid. Because you’re gonna starve.” 

Pennywise flips over and sinks into a hole, staring at the losers. Eddie releases Richie’s hand and holds it out to him. Richie hands him the baseball bat. As Eddie walks forward, he lifts the baseball bat high. Pennywise flinches.

“You leave me and my friends alone, you piece of shit.” Eddie hisses. 

Its face starts to crack, floating away. As it meets eyes with Eddie, it whispers one word. “ _ Fear _ ,” and drops into the dark abyss below. The losers look down into the well, seeing nothing.

***

“I can only remember parts, but I thought I was dead.” mutters Richie, scratching the back of his neck. “That's what it felt like. I saw us, all of us together back in the cistern, but we were older, like, our parents' ages.”

“What were we all doing there?” asks Bill.

“I just remember how we felt. How scared we were. I don't think I can ever forget that.” Eddie grabs Richie’s hand, who looks at Eddie, giving him a smile.

Bill suddenly stands up, picking up a shard of broken glass. “Swear it. Swear if It isn't dead, if It ever comes back, we'll come back, too.” Everyone hesitates, but Bill holds his hand and cuts in, then moving towards Richie. Richie winces, but holds his hand out, Bill cutting in. Bill continues to Eddie, who glances at Richie. He grins.

“Don’t worry, you’re not gonna get AIDS or anything.” Eddie sticks his tongue out at Richie. Richie copies him. 

Eddie holds out his hand to Bill, sucking in a breath as the glass shard drags against his hand. Squeezing his hand as Bill moves on, Richie places his hand that isn’t bleeding on Eddie’s shoulder. Mike bites his tongue and Stanley closes his eyes. Ben grunts quickly, but Beverly acts as if she didn’t feel a thing. As they grip hands, everyone looks to each other.

“I promise,” says Ben.

“I promise.” Beverly smiles.

“I promise,” Mike nods.

“I promise!” declares Eddie.

Richie shrugs. “Oh, what the hell. I guess I promise too.” Everyone laughs, Richie smirking.

“I promise,” mutters Stanley. Everyone lets go, Eddie immediately wiping his hands on his shorts. “I gotta go. I hate you.” Stanley says, Bill looking a little saddened. Stanley grins. Everyone starts to laugh. “I'll see you later.”

“Bye, Stan.”

“I should get going too.” Eddie mutters, waving goodbye. “Bye, guys.”

“Bye Mike,” Beverly waves to Mike as he leaves. 

“See you later, losers.” Smiles Mike. 

Richie smiles at everyone, shrugging. “Well, I should probably chase after Eddie so he doesn’t convince himself he’s got some complex disease from holding some bleeding hands or some shit.”

“See you, Rich.”

Richie smiles, giving him a two finger salute before heading off into the forest. “Hey, Eds!” Eddie turned around, smiling as he looked at Richie.

“H-hey yourself, Rich.” he blushes, nervously scratching his arm. He looks down at his sneakers. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to play Street Fighter with you,” he mutters. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I really wanted to, but I just--” Richie pushes his lips against Eddie’s again, Eddie’s eyes widening in shock. Eventually he closed his eyes and kissed Richie back, throwing his arms around his neck. Richie pulled away to breathe.

“Sorry,” he mutters. “I’ve just wanted to do that for a really long time.”

“You know, for someone who claims to have slept with my mom; you’re not as good of a kisser as I would have expected, trashmouth.” Eddie grins. Richie laughs.

“Come on,” Richie says, taking Eddie’s hand. I’ve still got all the Street Fighter tokens in my pocket. Wanna head over to the arcade so I can kick your ass?”

“Richie, our hands are literally gushing blood. I’m taking you to my house so I can get some medical supplies.” Eddie rolls his eyes as if it was the most obvious thing on the planet. Richie just keeps smiling at Eddie.

“Well then, Dr. K! Fix me up!”

“Fuck you, Richie.”

“Fuck you, too!” 


	4. Chapter 4

##  Chapter Four

The losers eventually moved on with their lives and started to forget all about what had happened in the days that Pennywise had terrorized their minds. Richie and Eddie’s shared kisses didn’t stay either, leaving an unknown reason of why they had become closer. 

As the years grew, so did the losers, heading to college and getting places of their own.

But something bothered Richie as they grew up.

The one thing he couldn’t shake were the visions in his dreams. Eddie appeared the most, which always left him waking in a cold sweat.

“ _ Richie, _ ” Eddie would cry, blood slipping from his mouth. Something would laugh and Richie could feel his heart tearing in two. He could hear his own voice sometimes if he slept long enough. It was always panicked and broken as he stared at the cold, dead Eddie, his lower jaw tinted with red. 

“ _ We can still save him, you guys! _ ”

“ _ He’s gone, Richie _ .”

Screaming.

***

**2001**

He was being ridiculous. The phone was ringing and Richie had his head in his hands, tapping his knuckles against the desk.

The nightmares were getting worse. More vivid. More heartbreaking.

Richie knew he had to do something to make sure it didn’t happen, or if there was no way around it; spend as much time with his best friend.

“ _ Hello? _ ”

“Hey, Eds!” He hears Eddie laugh. “Are you ready for graduation?”

“ _ What are you doing calling me? It’s like, almost midnight. _ ”

“Hey, you answered, so I guess it’s your fault.”

Eddie hums, and Richie can hear him clicking his pen. Probably for an assignment. “ _ Yeah, yeah, trashmouth. What do you want? Was there something you forgot to tell me when you called me this morning? _ ”

Richie fiddles with a piece of paper, folding it up into a plane. “Yeah, actually.” Eddie waits expectantly. “Well, when you told me you were looking for apartments, it got me thinking that I actually need one, too.” Eddie makes an agreeing noise to show that he’s listening. Richie closes his eyes and spits it out. “I actually found a really nice one, too. I mean, it costs a lot and has way too much space for just me, and I know you were looking too, so--”

“ _ You want me to move in with you _ …?” Eddie finishes. Richie bites his tongue.

“I mean, it’s just an offer.”

Eddie sighs, making Richie worry “ _ I don’t know man. I had a hard enough time dealing with your trashmouth in high-school. _ ” Richie can’t help but smile. “ _ But yeah, that sounds like a pretty good decision financial-wise. Can you email me some of the pictures of the apartment? _ ” Richie’s heart swells up.

“Yes! Definitely! Absolutely!” Richie laughs, leaning back in his chair as he closes his eyes. “No problem! I think you’re gonna love it.” Richie’s smile drops as he loses balance, falling over in his chair. Letting out a shout, he hits the ground, rubbing his head.

“ _ Holy shit, Richie! What happened?! _ ”

“N-nothing, Eds. I’m fine. I just--I fell over. I tipped my chair.” Eddie laughs.

“ _ Maybe I should move in to make sure you don’t accidentally kill yourself. _ ” he chuckles, butterfiles flittiring around in Richie’s stomach.

“Please do,”

“ _ Right, well. Send me those pictures. You wanna talk tomorrow? _ ”

“Of course!” Was he being too obvious?

“ _ Noon? _ ”

“Anytime is fine.” He was definitely being  _ way  _ too obvious.

“ _ Great, I’ll call you then! See you later, Tozier _ ”

“Bye, my Eddie Spaghetti.”

Quickly opening his computer, Richie typed out the emails and attached the files. Sending it out, he sat staring at the screen knowing Eddie probably wouldn’t reply right away. 

Ten minutes passed and Richie sighs, starting to close his computer until he hears a notification. Pushing the screen back up, he refreshes the page and clicks on Eddie’s email.

_ It looks awesome, Richie! I’ll call the landowner around eight a.m.. I bet we can move in next week right after graduation. Thanks for finding this! I’ll talk to you tomorrow! _

At the bottom was Eddie’s signature, making Richie smile. Shutting his computer he put it aside, laying down to fall asleep. He was ecstatic.

***

Richie rushed around the apartment, fixing things quickly. Eddie would be here any minute, and Richie wanted him impressed. Angling a lamp, Richie took a step back, looking at the living room.

“Shit!” he says, running into the kitchen that he assumed neither of them would use. He set the table for effect, exhaling. 

_ Ding-dong _ !

“Richie?” Richie tripped over the end table, scrambling to pick it back up.

“Yep, I’m coming!” Fixing his hair, Richie blew some air and opened the door. Eddie stood with a nervous face, two large rolling suitcases next to him. Richie was speechless. He hadn’t seen Eddie in years and Richie certainly thought he had aged well. His hair was still cut as it was when he was little and still wore a polo shirt. A pink one. “Hey,” breathes Richie.

“Hi,” Eddie smiles, the two standing there for a second. 

“Do you want me--I can get your bags for you.”

Eddie blushes. “Oh, no! It’s fine!”

Richie grins. “I insist, Eds.” Eddie smiles as Richie grabs them, moving for Eddie to enter. Eddie stares at the place, speechless. “I did my best, but I’m no interior designer. Feel free to change anything if you want--”

“No, no!” Eddie waves Richie off, seeming happy. “I love it! It’s just--I don’t know how you found this place.”

“Well, my cousin was trying to help his friend rent out some apartments. I knew it was too expensive and big for one person, so I just--I just asked you.” 

“That’s thoughtful of you.”

“Ah, not--not really, I don’t think.” Richie clears his throat. “What bedroom do you want?” 

Eddie thinks for a moment. “Whichever one you don’t want is fine.” Richie nods, moving Eddie’s bags into the closest room. Eddie looks around with a smile, looking at a few pictures hanging on the wall. One was of Richie and a few people he didn’t know (Eddie assumed they were his college friends) hanging out in a park, all posing for a picture in the beautiful autumn scenery. Eddie was shocked at how handsome Richie had gotten. Sure, he was attractive in the past, but now it nearly made Eddie’s heart stop when Richie had opened the door.

The second picture was of the Losers. Eddie couldn’t help but wonder where Richie had retrieved it. Eddie laughed at how horrible he had looked. Skinny and short, he was the definition of small. He wasn’t quite smiling, instead yelling at a grinning Richie.

Looking at the last picture, Eddie blushed. An old and yellow-ish picture of Richie and Eddie together. They sat on a log, Eddie’s head resting on Richie’s shoulder. Richie’s was resting his own on Eddie’s head, the two sitting close. Eddie was wearing a cast with the word ‘LOVER’ on it.

Strange. Eddie couldn’t remember breaking his arm. 

“Do you like the pictures?” Eddie turned to see Richie giving him a nervous smile. “I left you a picture frame. Y’know, so you can put whatever you want in it.” Eddie smiles.

“Yeah, I love ‘em. I just--” Eddie points to the one of him and Richie. “Where’d you get this one? I don’t remember breaking my arm.” Richie comes over, stopping next to Eddie. They stare at the photo, Richie squinting.

“Well, I think we went to play at the Well House or something. I think you fell down the stairs.” Richie shrugs. “I found it in an old box when I was moving in. Summer of eighty-nine.”

“God, I can’t believe we’re already 22,” Eddie mutters.

“Um, do you want to order some food? I’ll call in while you unpack your things. What’cha craving? Spaghetti?”

Eddie rolls his eyes. “Hilarious.” he says sarcastically. “Order whatever you want.” Richie nods as Eddie starts to head to his room. “Um, where’s my room?”

“First door on the left,”

“Thanks,”

Entering his room, Eddie shut the door and sighed, a smile coming to his face. He’ll admit that he was shocked when Richie had called him with his proposal, but he was also excited. Eddie had caught himself missing Richie a lot during college. Scribbling his name in his notebook, drifting off and thinking of the two of them in high-school.

So, naturally, Eddie had already decided to take the offer when it was presented to him. He pretended to hesitate to make sure Richie never caught on.

Eddie unzipped his bags, hearing Richie’s voice on the phone. He couldn’t help but smile as he put away his shirts and pants. 

He was quite impressed with the way that his room was done. Eddie had gone out on a limb and let Richie decorate if Eddie would pay the first payment. Richie said he’d allow Eddie to back out of the deal if he hated the decor, but Eddie found himself quite pleased with it.

As he placed some of his things in their drawers until his bags were empty, Eddie grabbed his toiletries and went to head from his bedroom, going to start looking for the bathroom. 

“Pizza will be here in fifteen minutes,” says Richie as Eddie exits his room. Richie looks to the bag in Eddie’s hand. “Bathroom’s the door next to you.” Eddie turns to see two doors on his left. He opens the one closer.

“What’s behind the third door?”

“Just my room. Not sure you’ll find anything interesting in there.”

“Okay.”

Eddie enters the bathroom and unpacks the bag. Richie turns on the TV, flipping through the channels. As Eddie steps out, he looks at the TV.

“You wanna watch something?” Richie asks. Eddie joins Richie, the two of them standing in front of the TV. “I brought my movie collection too,” Richie points to the cabinet before looking at Eddie. “I mean, if you don’t want to watch TV.”

“Yeah,” Eddie says. He smiles. “What movies do you have?”

Richie smiles back at Eddie. The awkwardness seemed to melt away at the mention of movies. “Batman, Ghostbusters, all three Back To The Future movies… Men In Black, Jurassic Park… I’ve got Scream, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Blair Witch Project, Nightmare on Elm Street, Alien and Child’s Play if you want to binge horror movies.”

Eddie laughs, shaking his head. “You know I hate all things scary.”

Richie sticks his hands in his pockets. “Well, how about I let you control the TV for a week and Friday night next week we stay up and watch them?” Eddie turns to Richie and crosses his arms. 

“...Alright,” he nods. “What’s the catch? I feel like you’re playing me or something.” Richie shrugs.

“What do you mean? It’s just an excuse to hang out with you all night. Do the shit we used to do when we were kids.”

“Fine, it’s a deal then.” 

Richie bites his lip and grins. He faces Eddie, realizing that their height difference really did stay throughout the years. God, he had missed him so much. “Deal.” Handing Eddie the remote, Richie heads into the kitchen. “Go ahead and pick out a movie for us to watch when the pizza gets here if you’re not feeling TV.” Eddie opens the dvd cabinet and Richie opens the fridge. He grabs a can of pop. “Oh, and we’re going to need to go shopping soon. I only bought enough food to last us a few days. Do you want anything to drink?” 

Eddie reads the labels of the DVDs, picking one out. “No, I’m not thirsty. I don’t have anything planned tomorrow since it’s a Sunday and I’m leaving my old job as soon as I find a new one. We can go shopping then. We can make a list tomorrow too.”

Richie leans on the counter “I never did ask; what was your major?”

“Oh, finance. I kind of want to be an insurance agent. I didn’t think I was the right fit for a doctor.”

“What do you mean? You were always Dr. K to me.” Eddie laughs at the memories.

“Thanks, Richie.” Eddie shrugs. “I don’t know, though. I always spend so much time worrying about that crap so… I didn’t want it to take over my whole life.” Eddie puts the disk into the DVD player. “You know what I mean?”

Richie puts his head in his hand as he watches Eddie stand back up, clicking the buttons on the remote. “Yeah…” Eddie looks to Richie. “I guess I know what you mean.”

“What about you, Richie?”

“Oh, Engineering. Although it doesn’t really help me. I just write some scripting for late night comedy shows.”

Eddie laughs, his smile making Richie melt. “Comedy,” he sighs. “I don’t know why I didn’t guess that.”

“Yeah. But, you know… Your mom and I started dating--”

“Oh my  _ god  _ Richie--”

“--I really think the relationship is going well. Do you think it’s too early to propose?”

“I’m just going to block you out now,” Eddie sighs. Richie sees a slight smile still on his face. “I fucking hate you.” Richie laughs, popping the soda can open. He took a sip. 

“Still cute as ever, Eds.” Eddie felt his face heat up, but he tried to laugh like the room didn’t get thirty degrees hotter. “What movie did you pick out?”

“Pinocchio.”

“Oh my god I didn’t even know I  _ had  _ that movie.” Richie grins ear to ear. “I still remember that every time a new Disney or Pixar movie came out I had to take you to the theatre because your mom didn’t let you go in such a ‘germ infested horror land’.”

“I remember when you’d rent movies for me and leave them in the mailbox for me.”

Richie chuckles. “Yeah, it was like our own little way of drug dealing: except it was movies, not weed.”

The doorbell rang, Richie turning around. As he opened the door, he paid the delivery man, taking the pizza box. Richie shut the door and layed the box on the coffee table in front of the couch. 

“Help yourself.” Richie puts down a drink, Eddie’s favorite drink, making his smile. “I got your favorite, too.” As Richie motioned for Eddie to sit down, Eddie sat, opening the box to see pepperoni pizza.

“You’ve certainly gotten nicer since high school.”

“That’s because why would I do it for free anymore if I get paid to be an asshole and tell jokes?” Eddie laughs. “Oh, give me a second.” Richie opened a stool and pulled out a blanket, tossing it at Eddie. “It gets cold, so here.” Richie grabs his own and sits next to him, kicking his feet up on the coffee table.

“Oh my god. Get your feet off the table, Rich.” Eddie pushes his legs off and grabs a slice of pizza, Richie laughing. He pokes Eddie’s side as he presses play on the movie, sipping his drink. 

“What, are you my mom now?”

“Well, that’s disgusting. It’s right next to the pizza, you dipshit.”

“Oh come on, I like, just took a shower.”

“Doesn’t matter, Richie. Do you know how many germs that you can transport by that--?”

Richie took another sip from his soda, brushing some of his hair for his face. “Okay,  _ now _ you’re starting to sound like high-school you. Remember when you were afraid that everything was gonna kill you and you had that inhaler that tastes like battery acid?”

“I still have asthma, you dumbass.”

“You do?”

Eddie narrows his eyes. “Yes! You don’t grow out of asthma, it stays with you forever!”

“Well, please don’t tell me you still take your twenty hourly pills.”

Eddie sighed, shaking his head. “No, they were placebos. Remember? My mom was just trying to keep me locked up in the house.”

“What the hell is a ‘placebo’?”

“Basically bullshit, Einstein.” Richie nods. He lays his arm across the couch, kicking a footrest for him to put his feet on. Eddie wraps himself and smiles as the opening credits of the movie played. He could remember visiting Richie’s, the two of them wrapped up in blankets, snuggling closely as they watched movies. It was either horror or Disney, depending on which one had won the coin toss. 

Eddie missed the feeling of snuggling into Richie. As he was so small, Richie usually covered him like a blanket. It was acceptable when they were kids, but Eddie had to forget about it since they were now adults. But if he could just lay wrapped in blankets with Richie one more time, he’d be content.

“What is it, my Eddie Spaghetti?” Eddie’s heart fluttered.

“Huh?”

“You’re like, completely spaced out.”

Eddie laughs. “Oh, just thinking about--job opportunities, I guess.”

Richie laughs and ruffles Eddie's hair. “Dude, you like, just graduated. Relax a bit, would you?”

Richie watches as Eddie smiles, nodding. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s watch the movie.”

It wasn’t long before they had started their third movie, the two of them starting to lull away to sleep. The pizza was gone and Eddie had gotten some popcorn, which of course was emptied before halfway through the second movie. Richie hadn’t even realized he was drawing circles on Eddie’s shoulder until he felt pressure on his shoulder. Turning to see Eddie’s eyes closed peacefully, his head was resting on Richie as he dreamed happily, a light smile on his face. Richie couldn’t help but smile. Yawning, Richie debated on whether to stay there, go to bed or wake Eddie up.

The last one was out, for sure.

Richie brushed his hair out of his face and carefully took his arm out from around Eddie. Taking a pillow off a chair, he put it down and laid Eddie’s head on it. Richie covered him with another blanket for extra warmth. Eddie smiled in his sleep.

“Night, Eds...” he whispers, patting Eddie on the head. He retreated back to his room and laid on the bed with a smile. As much as he had wished to stay there, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to move his neck in the morning in that position, so he had gone with his better sense of judgement and went to bed.

His heart was still pounding from when Eddie had walked in the door. Before he knows it, he’s asleep.

_ “Rich! Rich!” Eddie looks over at Richie, who’s laying on the ground. His eyes twinkle in the horrible lighting, a smile on his face. “Hey Rich, wake up!” _

_ “Eddie--” Richie gasps. “No--!” _

_ “Yeah, yeah! There you are, buddy!” _

_ “Eddie, move!” _

_ Eddie seems like he can’t hear him, looking backwards. “Listen, I think I got him, man. I think I killed it! I did!” _

_ “EDDIE, LISTEN TO ME!” _

_ Here it came. _

_ “I think I killed it for real!” Something split through Eddie’s chest, making him gasp in pain. _

_ “EDDIE, NO!” Blood dripped from his mouth and Richie closed his eyes. “This is just a nightmare, this is just a nightmare!” _

_ “Richie…” Eddie muttered. _

_ “NO! THIS ISN’T REAL!” He opened his eyes back up and there was nothing. He was in a bathroom. Not the apartment bathroom, but somewhere else. “Eddie?” There was a sound of someone crying and Richie spun around. A man lay in a bathtub filled with his own blood. Blood leaked from his wrists as he looked up to Richie. Richie fumbled back, panting in fear. _

_ “Can you save us, Richie?” said the man. Richie closed his eyes again and rubbed them before opening them once more. The bathroom was gone and he was standing in a prairie with a town just far enough away. A small kid with chocolate hair and beautiful blue eyes stood with a cast, tears streaming from his eyes. _

_ “Eddie,”  _

_ “You promised me you’d protect me.” Eddie said, wiping his eyes. “You won’t let it get me, will you?” _

_ “Let what get you?” asked Richie. Eddie raised a finger and pointed behind Richie. When he glanced back he saw nothing, but when he looked forward again, Richie jumped, stumbling back. Eddie was an adult again, but in his forties. The man he had seen was there too. They were both on either side of a grinning clown, all three holding hands with Eddie and the man holding bright red balloons. Eddie was crying, blood dripping from his mouth as his shirt was red from blood seeping from his stomach. The other man was crying as well, many cuts slashed across his wrists, except he was smiling. _

_ “Can you save them Richie?” asks the clown, grinning wildly. “Can you stop me?” _

_ Richie clenches his fists. “Let them go.” _

_ “You won’t win, Richie. You can’t beat me.” The clown laughs and Richie flinches. “Such a good idea, keeping Eddie with you. Too bad you can’t tell him.” _

_ “Shut up,” snarls Richie. _

_ “Sad, sad, Stan. Do you think you’ll beat me at the game of hide and seek? Can you find him before I do?” The man’s balloon popped and he started to choke, unable to breathe. Richie was horrified. “Poor Eddie Spaghetti,” the clown frowned. “Will you be able to keep your promise to him? Win the game of keep away?” Eddie’s balloon popped and pain took over his eyes. He tried to open his mouth but couldn’t speak. He was slowly dying. _

_ “It’s not too late, Richie.” the clown grins. He reaches behind his back and pulls out a shiny red balloon. “We’ve got room for one more up in the circus. You’ll float too!” _

_ “Come join us Richie,” Two kids stepped out from behind their respective adult. Stanley, then Eddie. _

_ “You’ll float too,” smiled Stan. _

_ “No,” croaked Richie, taking a step back. “No, no, no…” _

_ “You’ll float too,” Eddie beamed. _

_ “You’ll float too! You’ll float too! You’ll float too!” _

_ The two kids went silent and the clown laughed again. _

_ “Beep beep, Richie.” _

Richie sat up in a cold sweat, wiping his forehead. As he looked around, he jumped out of bed and threw open his bedroom door to see Eddie in the clothes from the night before, half asleep as he took a sip from his coffee, rubbing his eyes. The blanket is still wrapped tightly around him.

When Richie throws open his door, Eddie looks up to him, a little caught off guard. 

“Oh, god.” Richie sighs, shutting his door. He rubs his eyes as he makes his way into the kitchen. 

“What’s got you all crazy?” Eddie asks as he leans against the counter. Richie grabs the other mug in the cabinet, grabbing the coffee pot and filling the mug to the brim. Eddie watches. “That’s a lot of coffee, dude.”

“I’m aware,” mutters the tired Richie, bringing it to his mouth. “Sorry, you must have been looking for a while. I should have told you where everything was.”

Eddie smiles and takes a drink. “No, it only took me a few minutes.” 

Richie sits on the counter across from Eddie and smiles, the image of the bleeding Eddie already slipping from his mind. It was incredible how much better Eddie could make him feel just by talking.

“So, what do you think we need for shopping?” asks Eddie. “We probably need something for breakfast.

“Well, we have cereal.”

“Do you know how much sugar is in cereal?” Eddie narrows his eyes while Richie raises a single eyebrow.

“What are you going to do, make me eat a salad?”

Eddie turns red in embarrassment. “ _ No _ ,” he scoffs. “But you know, you should have like eggs or oatmeal or something that's a good breakfast.” Richie just laughs, shaking his head.

“You don’t want me to cook. I’ll--”

“--Set the kitchen on fire.”

“You remember that?!”

“Of course I do! My mom went ballistic!” Eddie shouts, a big grin on his face. Richie busts out laughing, throwing his head back. Eddie starts to laugh, taking another sip from his coffee.

“We could go out to breakfast before shopping,” Richie suggests. “I mean, that would be fun, wouldn’t it? I saw a nice pancake house when I was driving downtown. It’s pretty close to the grocery store too.”

Eddie finishes his coffee and sets the mug down, pulling the blanket around him tighter, he nods. “Yeah, that would be nice.” Richie smiles. “I’ll have to get dressed though.” Eddie smirks cutely. “You too, Rich. I’m not going out with you if you’re wearing sweatpants.”

Richie’s heart couldn’t help but flutter at Eddie’s choice of words.  _ Going out with him _ … Richie liked the sound of it. “Of course, Eds. Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on it.”

“Right, well. How long will it take you?”

“Eh, like fifteen minutes.”

“It’ll take me twenty, so I’ll be by the door ready to go by…” Eddie looks at his watch. “Ten sharp.”

Richie snickers. “You’ve barely changed,” he says, shaking his head as he heads off to his room. Eddie blushes, still smiling. Richie changed into a black t-shirt and an overshirt. He grabs a jacket and throws it over his shoulder before walking into the bathroom. Eddie, who’s doing his hair, moves over a bit as Richie picks up his toothbrush.

“You know,” Eddie begins, brushing his hair into his normal formal-ish style. “It might be helpful if we split the housework evenly. Like what we’re best at or something.”

Richie took the toothbrush out of his mouth. “Or like, we just switch off every week.”

Eddie rolled his eyes, looking at Richie through the mirror. “There is no fucking way I am letting you cook. Also, I’m pretty sure I wake up before you, so I’m not waiting for you to make coffee.”

“Well, how long were you up before me?” Richie spits the toothpaste into the sink. 

“I wake up around eight every day.”

“Well I like to sleep in until nine.”

“So, how about this. When we get back from breakfast and shopping, we can go over it when we put things away?”

Richie smiles and shrugs as Eddie grabs his own toothbrush. He starts towards the door and opens it, winking at Eddie. “Sounds like a great idea, my Eddie Spaghetti.”

Richie leaves the door open and goes to the closet, grabbing his shoes. Eddie calls out to him as he starts to pull them on. “So, do you have anything this week?”

“No,” Richie says loud enough for Eddie to hear from the bathroom. “I cleared my schedule so I could get settled in and get used to the house.” The faucet turns on and Eddie hums in response.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I should call in and ask the same thing. They’d probably let me, so that way I’ll get to discover the neighborhood and spend time with you.” Eddie clears his throat and butterflies blossom in Richie’s stomach. He feels about ready to melt like a popsicle on a hot summer beach. “Do you want to take my car?” Eddie walks out of the bathroom and goes into his room quickly to grab a light jacket. “It’s a nice black SUV. I’m pretty proud that I just paid it off.”

“I don’t own a car, Eds. I just take the subway or a taxi.”

Eddie seems a little shocked. “You’ve got a drivers licence, right?”

“Well, yeah.” Richie looks up to Eddie as he finishes tying his shoes. “Why? Do you want me to drive?”

“Only if you want to. I’d like to start the shopping list on the drive there.” Eddie narrows his eyes as Richie snorts in amusement. “Oh, and what’s so funny about that?”

“You make lists when you go shopping?”

“And you don’t?”

“No! I just put whatever I like in the cart and then pay.” Horrified, Eddie stares at him before retrieving his shoes from the closet.

“What? That’s horrible!” Eddie exclaims “How do you know how much money you're spending? How do you budget? What--what if you forget something? If you do that, you’re--you’ll just buy unhealthy snacks!”

“Yeah, but I get what I need.”

“No, you get what you want.”

“We don’t need a list, Eds.”

“We do too!”

Richie chuckles as he shakes his head. “Right, right. Whatever. You ready?” Richie grabs Eddie’s hand and pulls him to his feet. 

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Richie opens the door and they head downstairs, walking into the apartment parking lot. “Keys,” Eddie tosses them over the car to Richie, and they both get in, Eddie buckling his seatbelt. He pulls up the GPS.

“What’s the name of the breakfast place?”

“Uh, I don’t know, but I think I know where it is.”

“You  _ think _ ?”

“Come on, Eds. How are we supposed to get to know the place if we don’t even know how to navigate the town without a GPS?”

“I know for a fact you have no sense of direction, so I am definitely  _ not  _ letting you navigate without one.” Richie smirks and rolls his eyes, pulling out of the parking spot. Eddie grabs the door as Richie drives off, going over the speed limit. “ _ Richie! _ ”

“Yes, my Eddie Spaghetti?”

“Slow down, you’re going ten miles per hour  _ over the speed limit! _ ” Richie just shrugs, looking away from the road to turn on some rock music. Eddie clamped his hands down on his ears, glaring at Richie. “Watch--watch the road!”

“What?”

“Turn down the fucking music and watch the goddamned road!” Richie snickers as he turns down the music and faces the road.

“Oh, you know I love to tease you.”

“Teasing me and getting in a car accident are two different things.” Eddie says curtly. “Did you know that you going over the speed limit raises our chances of crashing from five percent to thirty six?!”

“We’re not going to get in a crash,” Richie soothes. It doesn’t make Eddie calm down. 

“We have speed limits for a reason. If you just blow past stops signs and ignore road safety laws then we’re putting others and ourselves at risk.” Richie laughs a bit. “Will you please slow down?!”

“Do you want to get there faster?”

“Sure, but not if--”

“You wanted me to drive, so this is what you get.”

Eddie narrows his eyes. “Fine, then you don’t get to drive anymore.” Richie smiles.

“Whatever,”

As they reach the breakfast spot, Eddie stumbles out of the car, taking a breath from his inhaler.

Richie looks at him in shock. “You still carry that thing around with you?”

“Of course! I  _ still  _ have asthma!”

“Right,” says Richie. Entering through the door, Richie holds up two fingers to the waitress. “Table for two, please.” he says with a smile. The waitress smiles back and nods, grabbing menus.

“Right this way, gentlemen.”

As the two sit down across from each other, Eddie peeks over the menu at Richie, who’s lost in thought scratching his jaw as he thinks of what to order. “What are you getting?” he asks, catching Eddie off guard. He sinks behind his menu so Richie can’t see his bright red face.

“E-er, I’m not… I’m not sure yet, to… to be honest.” Richie tries to look over Eddie’s menu, a little concerned.

“You alright?”

“Yes--yes! Yeah, I’m okay.” Eddie clears his throat and sits straight again. Richie looks at Eddie's tomato colored face.

“Are you hot or something? Your face is super red.”

“No, I’m fine. I--I think I’ll just order the omelette or something. That--that looks good to me.” Eddie watches as Richie looks back down at the menu, adjusting his glasses. “What about y-you?”

Richie shrugs his shoulders. “Not sure yet. I mean, the waffles look good.”

“Have you two chose what you would like to drink yet?” The waitress returns, holding a pad of paper and a pen.

“Um, I think so.” Richie looks at Eddie. “We might be ready to order, too?”

“Y-yeah, I’ll have an orange juice and um, an omelette, please,” Eddie mutters, running his hand through his hair. Richie smiles as he stares at him. When the waitress looks to Richie, he glances up at her.

“I’ll have some waffles, but just water for me, thanks.” Richie smiles at the waitress and she nods, walking off. “So,” begins Richie, putting his head in his hand as he returned to stare at Eddie. Eddie turns red again, covering his face. 

“Shut up, trashmouth.”

“What?” 

Richie can’t help but laugh as Eddie uncovers his face and clears his throat, trying to avoid eye contact. Richie gazes at him lovingly.

“Um,” Eddie starts, desperate to distract himself. “You must have had a fun time at college--” He finally meets eyes with Richie again. “--did you travel during the spring breaks?”

Richie shrugs, taking a sip from the water that is placed in front of him. Eddie puts a hand over his orange juice. “Hm, I think I went once. To like--” he motions vaguely. “--Cancun. I went with two of my friends; we all saved up for it and we had a pretty good time.”

“That sounds nice,” says Eddie. “Who were they?”

“Steve and Lanna. Steve and I met on the first day and Lanna was a tutor for me for a bit when I was struggling with Calculus.” Richie takes a sip from his water and picks up a spoon, playing with it on the table.

“Was she--uh, are you two together?” asks Eddie, a little down. Richie snorts, shaking his head. 

“Naw, I’d never get together with a w--” Richie freezes, picking it up quickly. “--Lanna.” He smiles at Eddie. “Not my type in a number of ways. Besides, I’d much rather live with you than some fake blonde trying to look like a barbie doll.” Richie shrugs. “Not that I’d ever get a girl like that interested in me,”

Eddie grins, laughing happily.  _ He’d much rather live with me _ .

“But what about you, Eduardo? You always said you wanted to go someplace in high school.”

“Costa Rica,” Eddie smiles at the memory, running his finger around the rim of his glass. “We had awesome weather. The hotels were amazing and I went scuba diving.”

“Did you go with anyone?”

“Well, I was invited so the group could save money. It was a discount if you went with ten people and there were a group of nine I was good friends with.” Eddie looks up to Richie, who’s listening closely to the melody of Eddie’s voice. “It was… Eric, Brian, Chris... Carlos and, um, Becky, Heather... Karen, Derek and Valorie.”

“Were you close with them?”

Eddie laughs a little sadly, scratching his cheek. “Ah, no. They really only came to me for answers on things. Study kits and help. I didn’t really have close friends in college.”

Richie gave Eddie a smile. “Well, you’ve got one now!” he grins. “Literally close; you can’t be that far away when we live in an apartment together!”

As Eddie lets out a genuine, happy laugh, Richie feels like he’s about to reach across the table and kiss him. Realistically, of course, he would never. The odds of a perfectly good outcome are stacked against him horribly.

“Did you date anyone in high school?” 

Eddie seems a little shy about the question, pausing before he shakes his head. “Haha, no… I wasn’t really interested in--” Eddie stopped as the waitress returned with their food, laying each plate in front of them. “Thank you,” Eddie says, the waitress nodding. “I… where was I? Oh! I was mostly just focused on studies, for the most part.” Eddie picks up a fork and takes a bite of his omelette as Richie covers his waffles in syrup. “What about you?”

“Formally? None, really. Just stupid stuff that didn’t even last like a month. They all started up after sleeping with people at parties, so there was no real emotion.” Eddie takes another bite, nodding. Richie cuts the waffles and stabs it with a fork.

As Eddie waves his fork in front of him, he wipes his mouth before speaking. “You know, we should probably cover groceries now,” he thinks aloud. Richie snorts, causing his water to splash back in his face as he laughs. “What?”

“You’re really excited to make a grocery list, aren’t you?”

He turns red as he takes another bite of his omelette. “I’m not  _ excited _ , it’s just good to do it!”

“Mhm,” smirks Richie.

“Oh, shut up, Richie.” Richie raises his hands in defence. “Drop your innocent act; I know you’re trying to get me mad.”

“Is it working?”

“No,”

“It’s working.”

“Shut up!”

Richie throws his head back and laughs again, letting out a happy sigh before looking back to his red-faced friend. “Cute, cute, cute. You know, I’m telling the truth when I say you haven’t changed a bit.” 

“Whatever, Rich…”

***

As Richie gets up to the counter to pay, he gives Eddie his keys back with a wink. “Go ahead and start the car up Eds, I’ll be out in a bit.”

“Right,” Eddie smiles, heading out the door. He looks back through to see him smiling as he talks to the breakfast cashier, probably cracking off a crappy joke. Eddie blushes a bit, his heart pounding happily.

“Hey there, cute stuff,” says a voice. Eddie turns to see a tall man with a cool jacket towering over him. “What’s your name?”

Eddie freezes, turning pink. “Ah, um--hello…” he laughs nervously. “I’m… I’m Eddie K-Kaspbrak--”

“Kaspbrak? That’s fitting for an official-looking angel like you. That polo looks adorable on you.” Eddie took a step back, but the man took two steps forward, grabbing Eddie’s hand. “I’m Jack. I’ve never seen you around before and I’m sure I’d remember a face as pretty as yours.”

“I just--I just moved here with--”

“Wow, do you need a tour?” The man named Jack fixes Eddie’s hair, who laughs uncomfortably.

“Thanks, but I’m not really--Richie’s panning on--”

Jack smiles seductively. “I bet I could give a better tour,” he folds the collar of Eddie’s polo down. “First we could swing by my apartment and I can get you a shirt that’s not as stiff. I bet you’d look hot in one of my band t-shirts.”

“Thanks, you too.” Richie smiles, nodding to the waiter as he hands back Richie’s credit card. As he starts towards the door, Richie stops dead in his tracks as he looks to see a man coming on to Eddie, who looked like he’d prefer to be anywhere else in the world.

“I’m sorry--I’m just not interested. I’m out with someone right now and I don’t want to--”

“Oh, come on, cute stuff. Just ditch them, they won’t be upset. I’ll give you a much more fun day if you come with me.” The man grins and Richie feels his face heat up in anger. Richie was jealous, something he’s never really felt before.

_ Calm down, _ Richie tells himself.  _ Handle this normally; don’t freak out. _

The man was cornering Eddie, who looked a little frightened. He leaned in closer and tilted Eddie’s head up with his finger under Eddie’s chin. Richie lost it. Throwing open the door, he caught both their attention, the man looking Richie up and down. Richie didn’t make eye contact, but smiled at Eddie, putting an arm around him.

“Hey, baby. Are you ready to go shopping?” Richie presses a kiss on the side of Eddie’s forehead, who turns bright red.

“R-Richie--?”

“Play along,” Richie whispers.

“Who’s this?” asks the man, raising an eyebrow. 

Eddie stutters, clearing his throat. “This is--this is Richie, he’s m-my--”

Richie holds out a hand to the man, keeping his arm wrapped around Eddie. “I’m his boyfriend. Did you want something with my Eddie Spaghetti?”

The man seems flustered, pulling at his collar. “Sorry, I--I didn’t--I thought you were single,” he apologizes. Richie smiles fakely.

“Well he’s not,” Richie states. “So maybe you should leave us alone from now on, right? Thanks.” Richie takes his arm off of Eddie and grabs his hand, giving Eddie a smile as they make their way to the car. Eddie goes to look back, but Richie squeezes his hand. “Don’t look at him,” he mutters. As they get to the car, Richie lets go of Eddie’s hand and they get in, the two buckling their seat belts. Eddie covers his face, Richie looking at him worried. “Eds, I’m--I’m sorry, was that too much? I--he just looked like he was bothering you a-and, I just got upset--”

“No!” Eddie exclaims, looking at Richie with a blushing smile. “No--It’s… No, I wanted to thank you. Um, you--you really do always have my back, don’t you?”

Richie blushes and smiles, chuckling a bit.

“Yeah, I--I guess I do.”


	5. Chapter 5

##  Chapter Five

“Eddie, hurry up!” Richie shouted, pausing the movie. “The popcorn is gonna get cold if you don’t get in here!”

“Shut up, Richie! Give me a second!” Eddie retorts, yelling from his bedroom. “I’m not going to be watching these god-awful horror movies in the clothes I’ve worn all day--I’m getting in my pjs!”

Richie smirks, rolling his eyes. “I did that like an hour ago,”

Stepping out of his bedroom, Eddie glared at Richie, who smiled, turning pink. He was wearing a gray pair of sweatpants and an old stretched out t-shirt. Richie smiles dumbly as his heart melts. In his eyes, Eddie looked  _ absolutely adorable _ . “Yeah, while I was cooking dinner. Did you expect me to leave the salmon in the oven?”

“Sorry, sorry…” smiles Richie, patting the couch for Eddie to sit down. Eddie flops down on the couch and kicks up his legs, laying his head on Richie’s shoulder. Richie puts his arm around Eddie and presses play on the remote.

“I can’t believe I fell for this…” mutters Eddie.

Laughing, Richie hugs Eddie tighter. “Oh, come on, Eds. It’s just a couple of horror movies!”

“Exactly! You know how much I hate them!” Eddie whines, giving Richie a face. His heart flutters and he pats Eddie’s head, giving him a smile. “Please, Richie?”

“Nope, you made a promise.”

Eddie huffs and looks back to the TV. As he crosses his arms, he puts his head back on Richie’s shoulder. “Worth a shot…”

Richie throws his head back and laughs. Eddie smiles and tugs the blanket tighter around him, giggling as he snuggles closer to Richie. “You’re such an idiot, my Eddie Spaghetti.”

They watched one after one, Richie making jokes to make sure Eddie didn’t get too frightened. Eddie laughed at each joke, making an addition to a few. They reached the last one, Richie getting up to put in the last movie. Except he stopped when Eddie let out a small yawn, Richie glanced back, smiling. Eddie gives Richie a tired smile as he rubs his eye.

“Is this the last one, Rich?”

Richie chuckles. “Actually, I think we’ll just stop here,” he smiles. Eddie yawns again.

“What? But I’m not even…” Eddie stretches. “...tired.”

“I’d say your eyes beg to differ.”

Eddie laughs a bit as Richie sits back on the couch, Richie putting his arms back on Eddie’s shoulders. Sleepy and delirious, Eddie laid his head on Richie’s chest. “Okay,” he murmurs. “I guess I’m a  _ bit  _ tired.”

“Come on then,” Richie says. “Up you go.” He helps Eddie up and they walk to their bedroom doors. Richie opens Eddie’s for him and ruffles his hair before waving him off. “Night, Eds.” 

“Goodnight, trashmouth.”

Laughing, Richie went into his room and shut the door, flopping on the bed. He smiled as he covered himself with the sheets, hoping to dream of anything that wasn’t…

_ “You’ll float too!” _

Richie tossed and turned. He kicked the blankets and muttered to himself. 

_ “Can you save us, Richie?” _

His breathing sped up and he gripped his shirt, his muttering getting louder as the images of Eddie bleeding to death flashed through his dreams.

“No, no…” he whispered.

_ “You promised me you’d protect me.” _

“Eddie…!”

_ “You won’t let it get me, will you, Richie?” _

_ “Richie…” _

_ “Richie!” _

“Richie!” 

“NO!” Richie screamed as he bolted awake, gasping for air. Eddie was standing next to him, his hand on his shoulder. Shouting in surprise and thinking that he was still locked in his dream, Richie pulled away, falling off his bed. 

“Oh, shit--Richie, are you okay?!” Eddie pokes his head over, concerned for Richie. Richie turns pink, flashing a smile.

“Uh, yeah.”

Eddie starts to smile, snickering. He holds his hand out and Richie takes it, Eddie pulling him back to his feet. “Nightmare?” Richie nods, sitting back down on the bed. “What was it about?” 

Richie thought for a second. He couldn’t tell him the truth.  _ ‘Hey, yeah. I’ve been having nightmares of you dying ever since I was like twelve or thirteen--you get impaled and bleed to death in my arms! _ ’ That was an obvious no. 

“Um, I can’t really remember.” Eddie tilts his head a bit. “Just like--um… Like some murderer killed you and then killed me. D-dumb--dumb stuff.”

“Well, I’m here,” Eddie tells him gently. “Do you want me to help you calm down?” Richie nods slowly, looking to Eddie. Eddie scoots closer and starts drawing circles on his back. Eddie laughs quietly. “I remember when you’d do this to me to help me calm down when I had asthma attacks.” Richie smiles, remembering the panicked Eddie sitting in his lap as Richie shushed him gently. “I think I did it to calm you down a few times, too.” 

“Yeah, I think you did,” mutters Richie, closing his eyes as Eddie hummed. “Can you stay?” Eddie blushed, seeming a little embarrassed. “Um--you know, just until I calm down--not like--not like that!”

“S-sure, I can stay…”

Richie sighs, tilting his head to the side a bit. “Thank you…”

Before either of them realized, they were asleep in Richie’s bed, the taller holding the shorter in his arms.

When Eddie awoke, however, he realized his position and panicked, pulling away, careful not to wake Richie up. He retreated into the living room and covered his bright red face with his hands before making the morning coffee.

***

**2006**

Eddie hummed to himself as he made the coffee. It was nearly 9:15, so he poured Richie’s coffee. As soon as he filled it up, he heard Richie’s alarm go off. Right on schedule. 

Richie rolled out of bed and came into the kitchen, stretching his arms. He yawned. Eddie smiles as Richie puts his chin on the top of Eddie’s head, the shorter handing the taller his coffee.

“Good morning, trashmouth,” Eddie says, making Richie smile. His eyes are barely open, Richie refusing to take his head off of Eddie’s.

“Mornin, Eds…” he mutters. 

Eddie lived for that shit. It was the highlight of each of his mornings. An hour to himself and when his hour was up, he was greeted by a tired, clingy Richie who he made coffee for. They would always sit on the couch and talk about the events for the day before Eddie left at 9:45 for his job. Richie wouldn’t leave until 10:30.

“Sleep well?” Richie finally takes his head off of Eddie’s, taking a sip from his coffee mug. He shrugs. “Did you have nightmares again?”

“No; didn’t dream.”

“That’s better than nightmares, at least.” Richie laughs a bit, nodding.

“Yeah, that’s true,” Richie ruffles Eddie’s hair. “You always know how to make me happy, don’t ya, Eds?”

Eddie laughs, the two sitting down on the couch. “So, did you get the email last night?”

Richie shakes his head. “No, they said that they’d tell me at work today.”

“Well, if you get it, you should call me. I’ll get some of that nice wine we saw at the store. We can celebrate.”

“That would be nice,” Richie grins as Eddie puts his mug down, slipping on his jacket. “You’ll be back around three today, right?”

Eddie smiles. “Sorry, Rich. I won’t be home around six, but I promise I’ve got no work after. We’ll have all night to hang out when you get that promotion.” Eddie scoops up the keys and gives Richie one last smile as he opens the door. “See you tonight!”

“Bye, Eds.” Richie smiles as the door closes, stretching before coaxing himself off the couch. He finishes his coffee and dresses before getting ready to leave, taking a deep breath Richie crosses his fingers before getting in his own car. 

Eddie and Richie had bought it last year; mostly so Richie didn’t have to take a cab or wake up earlier to ride with Eddie. He liked the car rides, but his brain couldn’t handle the waking up so early. Starting it up, Richie drove off, thinking to himself.

Would he actually get the promotion? Richie prayed he would. The added bonus of seeing Eddie’s proud face would be an amazing plus. As he parked his car, he headed inside, pushing open the door as he unzipped his jacket.

“Hey, Tozier!” shouted a woman, waving to Richie.

“Hi, Vivian,” Richie stopped, the woman smiling at him. “Um, do you remember where we’re meeting up for the announcement?”

“Well, Jared just announced that it won’t be let out until like, three, why?”

Richie scratches the back of his neck. “Oh, Eds just wanted me to call him when I found out if I got the promotion or not--he’s gonna get some wine to celebrate.”

Vivian smirks. “So you’re gonna spend all night with your boyfriend? Hopefully you’ll be drunk enough to get lucky.”

Richie rolls his eyes. “Don’t be dumb,” he mutters.

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you, Rich. Asking him might not go as sideways as you think it will.” Richie laughs fakely, shaking his head.

“I don’t know…”

She shrugs, shaking her head. “I’m just saying; being wasted might get you some answers.”

“Right, well I’m gonna get a head start on work; see you at the meeting, Viv.”

“Bye, Richie!”

Heading into his office, Richie powered on his computer and sat down, scooching in his chair. As he pulled up a fresh doc, he typed out the title, starting to ready his new script for his Friday Night Live skit. 

“Richard!” shouts a man, Richie flinching. He quickly fixed his glasses and looked up to his boss, George Thomas, standing in his doorway.

“Uh--Mr. Thomas!” Richie exclaims. He sits up straight. “Y-you know you can call me Richie, right?”

“Shut up, Tozier,” the man hisses, making Richie laugh nervously. “Calvin Snyder from Center Comedy will be here in five minutes to discuss your skit. If I get a single bad word from him your chances of the next promotion are out the window.” Richie gulps. “So you better work hard or you’re stuck writing bullshit for another four years.”

“Yessir,” Richie says quietly, his boss turning around to yell at the intern following him. 

“Where’s my coffee? It’s been three minutes since I told you to get it!”

Richie sighs as he puts his head in his hand, reading over the first three words on the doc. His mind was completely blank. His desk phone rang, making him jump. As he picked it up, he listened carefully. “Uh--hello?”

“Oh, good. I’m not bothering you, am I, Richie?”

“Eds!” Richie smiles and he sits up straight, feeling his cheeks go pink. “Thank god, my mind is completely blank.”

Eddie laughs. “How long have you got?”

“Four minutes,” Richie tells him, holding the phone between his shoulder and his ear. “So, please make it quick.”

“Who is it?”

“Calvin Snyder,”

“Lucky!” Eddie hums, thinking. “Well, I’ve seen him in musical movies and I know that he likes Shakespeare. He’s also a big fan of horror, so what about a joke skit for… Phantom of the Opera? It’s got the classic element, the horror and the musical? I think he even did a performance for it once.”

“You're a genius, Eds. This is why I love you--r mind!” Eddie laughs, seemingly not noticing anything. Richie smiles dumbly, turning pink. 

“So, no word on the promotion, yet?”

“Oh, no. Nothing yet, the meeting isn’t until three.” Richie leans back in his chair. “But, if this goes well, the boss said I’ll get the promotion.”

“That’s good! Then you won’t have to work for him anymore; hopefully the new boss will be nicer.”

Richie chuckles. If he could, Richie would never work. He wished he could sit and talk to Eddie for hours; just to hear his soft voice. Richie was in love, and he was sure that he would feel emotions for no one but him. Except, he had no clue if Eddie returned the feelings. All he could do was hope that he did. Hope and pray. “I’ll see you tonight, Eds.”

“Aw, you have to go already?”

“Don’t you have fun to ruin?”

“I analyze risks; I don’t ruin fun.” Eddie scoffs. Richie smirks.

“You sure?”

He could hear Eddie heave a sigh from the other end of the phone. “I know what you’re doing, and I’m not going to--”

“I mean, you’re literally telling people ‘don’t do that, it’s fun, because anything risky is fun’.”

“Oh, shut  _ up  _ trashmouth! That is not true! I do it so people know the consequences of their actions! If I didn’t do it, who would?” Richie was debating to continue.

“Any other cute short person who thinks that if you smell rotten eggs your house is going to go up in flames,”

“Shut up!” shouts Eddie. Richie laughs, practically able to see Eddie’s bright red face. There’s a knock at Richie’s office door, making him look up. Calvin Snyder stands in the doorway, looking in.

“Shit, Eds. I’ve gotta go, now. I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Sure. Catch you later, Richie.”

Richie puts the phone down and smiles at Calvin. “Sorry about that, I was just calling my--my friend.” He stands up and they shake hands, Richie motioning for him to take a seat. 

“It’s perfectly fine, Mr. Tozier.”

“Oh, just call me Richie.” Richie sits back down and fixes his chair, clapping his hands together. “So, You’ve done an act in… um--Phantom of the Opera, right?” Richie puts his hands on the keyboard after fixing his glasses, looking up to Calvin. He smiles at Richie.

“A fan?”

“Sort of, my Eds is much more of a fan than I am, though. He won’t miss an episode of Ember’s King.” Richie laughs as he thinks of Eddie diving into the living room to watch the newest episode of the show, shushing Richie loudly to make him shut up.

“That’s sweet; is he your boyfriend?”

Richie turns bright red, laughing nervously. “W-what? No--No, of course not! He’s just--Eddie’s just my roommate.”

Calvin laughs. “Right, just a roommate. Anyway, would you like me to give him an autograph?”

Richie smiles. “Yeah! He’d be over the moon.”

***

“Alright, everyone.” snaps Mr. Thomas, glaring at everyone in the room. Richie fiddles with his hands, Vivian patting his shoulder. He looks up to her as she gives Richie a wink with two thumbs up as if to say ‘ _ You got this! _ ’ “Now, I’m aware that most of you have heard that one of you are going to get the promotion today of getting your own stand-up show on Netflix. Then, if you do good with that, you'll become a professional.”

Whispers are scattered amongst everyone.

“Now, for the decision.” Mr. Thomas sighs. “Richard Tozier. You’ve gotta find a manager in the next hour and a half or the job goes to someone else.”

Richie shoots to his feet, his chair falling backward. “Mr. Thomas! Th--Thank you, sir! I’ve already got an idea! I’ll just go ahead and go call him--!” Running back to his office, Richie dove across his desk and picked up the phone, pressing his first speed dial.

Eddie put down his fountain pen as his desk phone began to ring. “Thanks Samantha,” he told his secretary. “Can you hold the meeting an extra two minutes or so?”

“Yes, Mr. Kaspbrak.”

Picking up the phone, Eddie put it between his shoulder and ear, picking up a stack of papers to check. “Borderless Insurance’s Risk Analyst line, this is Edward Kaspbrak speaking. How may I help you--?”

“EDDIE!”

Eddie flinched and the phone went flying. Tipping over his chair, the stack of papers fluttered through the air. Reaching across the desk, Eddie caught the phone, putting back to his ear.

“Richie, what the fuck?! You scared the shit out of me, I’ve got an important client meeting in two minutes and--”

“I got the promotion!”

Eddie gasps, a big smile washing over his face. “You did?! Oh my god, Rich! I’m so happy for you! Did they tell you where it is?!”

“It’s with Netflix; apparently if I do well, they’ll transfer me to a full-time stand up!” Richie was excited, making Eddie incredibly happy. “I’ll finally be a famous comedian! Hollywood lights, here I come!” Laughing, Eddie smiles, sitting back on his chair.

“That's amazing, Richie. I’ll try to get off early to buy the wine. What do you want me to cook for dinner?”

“Oh, no. You don’t have to cook, my Eddie Spaghetti. This wouldn’t have been possible without you. I’ll order us something! Since you’re getting off work late, you shouldn’t have to come home to do a bunch of extra shit, okay?”

Eddie blushes, smiling. “Thanks, Richie.”

“Also, I need a manager. You won’t have to do much since we already live together, and it gives me an excuse to take you to all of my shows. You’ll still get to keep your insurance job!” Eddie knew Richie was trying to beg without seeming pathetic, making Eddie laugh.

“I’d love to. Don’t worry, Richie. You don’t have to convince me.”

“Mr. Kaspbrak? The Smith family is waiting for you.”

Eddie put the phone to his chest. “I’ll be right there, Samantha. Thank you.” As he puts the phone back to his ear, Eddie smiles again. “I have to go now, Rich. I’ll see you tonight, okay?”

“Alright, Eddie. Goodbye!”

“Bye, trashmouth.”

Eddie hangs up and Richie’s smiling widely. Rushing back to his boss’s office, he knocks.

“Come in,”

“Sir? I--I’ve got a manager.”

Mr. Thomas looks up, surveying Richie. “Let me guess, it’s that Kaspbrak man?” Richie nods and Mr. Thomas sighs, pushing some papers forward. “Get him to sign these, and you’ll have to fill out some things as well. Give me his email, too. Then you can head on home.” Richie wrote down Eddie’s email and grabbed the papers with a huge smile on his face.

“Oh, thank you Mr. T!”

“Bring those papers back tomorrow!” Mr. Thomas shouts as Richie runs through the office, giving Vivian a high-five as she raises her hand for him. 

“Good luck with that roommate of yours!”

“I’m gonna get fucking wasted with him!” Vivian laughs as Richie runs out of the building, jumping into his car. He starts it up and drives back to the apartment, getting out when he arrives home. “Right, what to make?”

Eddie sat at his desk, a fake smile on his face as he listened to Mr. and Mrs. Smith complain loudly. He was going to slam his head against his desk in a few minutes.

“You know, Mrs. Smith,” Eddie laughs sarcastically, fiddling with his fountain pen. “As much as I’d like to give you more information, that’s just not in my line of work. You’ll have to speak to your provider if your insurance covers it.” Eddie shrugs, smiling tiredly.

“Mr. Kaspbrak, this is an outrage!” cries the wife, Eddie putting his finger on his intercom.

“Samantha,”

“Right away, sir.”

“I mean, you’re a risk analyst! How am I supposed to know if I’m covered or not?!”

Eddie wipes his face with his hand. “Mrs. Smith, that’s why I’m telling you to go to your provider. All I can tell you is that the risk of that happening in your house is zero point zero five percent. I don’t know your coverage contract so I can’t tell you whether or not your insurance covers it. Mr. Callahan will escort you.” Eddie motions to a security man nodding to the Smiths. “I’m glad to be of any help in the future.” Eddie smiles, Mrs. Smith continuing to shout at him.

Eddie sighs as the door shuts, slamming his head on his desk. “Are you okay, Edward?” Looking up, Eddie saw his co-worker, Dan, with a grin. “The Smith’s aren’t the best,” he laughs. “I had them two years ago until they requested someone less, y’know… ‘Rude’, as they put it.”

Eddie laughs a bit, not really meeting eyes. “You know you can call me ‘Eddie’, you know that, right Dan?”

“Eh, Edward sounds more like your job,”

“But, I really don’t--”

“Anyway, got any big plans for tonight?” Dan sits down and clicks his pen, Eddie biting his lip. He shifted in his seat. “I’m gonna take the wife out for dinner, then we’re gonna have the night to ourselves.”

“Oh, Richie just got a promotion, so I’m gonna get some wine to celebrate.” He smiled a bit, Dan seeming a little guarded. “It’ll be fun, you know. I mean, this is his dream job, so he’s ecstatic and I’m incredibly happy for him--”

“Shit,” mutters Dan. “I had no idea you were…”

“W-what?!”

“Isn’t Mr. B super homopho--?”

Eddie turns red, waving his hands. “No, no, no! No, it’s--it’s not like that, Richie and I are just--we’re just roommates. We’re not--no, he doesn’t think of me that way!”

“And do you…?”

Eddie’s mouth tries its best to form the words. “Of course not!”

“You hesitated,” Dan states.

“No--no, I didn’t.”

Tilting his head a bit, Dan nodded. Eddie covered some of his blushing face. “Better work on your lying abilities, Edward. Anyways, It’s almost quitting time, so you better get ready to go.” Eddie goes to pull up his briefcase from under his desk. “You can tell me how the date went tomorrow.”

Eddie slams his head from under the desk in shock, then shooting back up to sputter out, “I-I-It’s not--it’s not a d-date!”

“See you tomorrow, Edward!”

“Fuck,” Eddie whispers, rubbing the top of his head, which was starting to hurt like hell. As Eddie gripped the breifcase’s handle, he gulped. It wasn’t a date, right?

But… getting expensive wine while getting wasted on the couch was a couple’s idea of a date, usually.

_ “Since you’re getting off work late, you shouldn’t have to come home to do a bunch of extra shit, okay?” _

Richie always cared. More than any girlfriend he’d ever had, which only ever lasted two or three weeks. Eddie couldn’t seem to like their company as much as he liked Richie’s.

And he had hesitated, didn’t he?

Eddie shook away his thoughts and headed out his office door, down to his SUV which he quickly got into. As soon as he started driving, Eddie pressed a button. A sound went off.

“Call Richie,”

“Calling Richie Tozier,” said the voice in the car, the line ringing. When it clicked, Eddie smiled.

“Mmmmhello?” asked Richie, half paying attention. 

Eddie narrowed his eyes and a smile came to his lips as he heard the stove sizzling. “Richie, are you cooking?”

“FUCK!” Richie shouts, clearly disappointed. “Dammit, Eds! That was gonna be a surprise!” Eddie laughs, hearing the faucet go on before turning back off. Richie hits some sort of wood spoon on the side of a pan.

“What are you making?”

“It’s a fucking suprise, you dumbass. I’m not gonna tell you.”

“Sorry, sorry.”

“Anyway, did you get the wine, yet? It’s red wine, right?” Richie questions, making Eddie smirk.

“Are you cooking steak?”

“Shut the fuck up! You don’t get to guess!”

Eddie laughs, shaking his head. “Okay, jeez! No, I’m right about outside the place, though. Red wine and anything else?”

“Uh, something to get us fucking wasted.”

“And we’re going to go to work with that?”

“Fuck work! I just have to drop some papers off, but you can stay home, right?” Richie begs, making Eddie blush. He really wanted to, but he didn’t want the chance of Dan thinking he was dating Richie.

“I’ll think about it; but red wine and something strong? How about I make some Old Fashioned cocktails?” Eddie always knew Richie liked those. “I’ll make them like that old recipe I found back junior year taught me?”

“Shit, you still remember how? God, yes! They’re the best!”

“Right, well. I’ve gotta go, Richie. I’ll be home in a few.”

“You’re amazing, Eds. See you in a bit,”

As he entered the liquor store, Eddie browsed the red wine, before picking out three nice, not-too-expensive red wines before picking out the ingredients for the cocktails. As Eddie layed it in front of the cashier, the old man looked at Eddie then back at the drinks.

“Ah,” the old man nodded, scanning the items. “Date night.”

Eddie blushes a bit, shrugging. “Not--not really, more of a celebratory th-thing…”

“He’s a lucky man, I’ll say.”

“Wh--I’m sorry, what was that?”

The old man gives Eddie a look, a small smirk on his face. “That young man you live with. The one with the glasses and messy hair.” As he put the drinks in their bags, he gave Eddie a wink. “He’s a lucky man to have such a supportive husband.”

“We--Oh, we’re not--”

The man pushes the bags into Eddie’s hands, nodding. “Have a nice night.”

“But--I…” Eddie clears his throat and smiles, nodding to the man. “Thank you, you--er--you too.”

Eddie’s bright red as he leaves the store, getting into his SUV to drive home. He walks up the stairs when he gets home, holding the drinks up with his hip as he fishes the keys out of his pocket. Eddie was kind of paranoid, so he made Richie lock the door even if one was home and the other was on their way.

“FUCK!” shouts Richie, scaring the shit out of Eddie. “THIS TASTES LIKE CRAP! WHY CAN’T I FUCKING COOK--?!”

“I’m home, Rich,” Eddie calls, pushing open the door. 

He peeks around the door to see Richie spin around and hide something behind his back. He wore a food-covered apron and there was a large black smudge on his left cheek. Eddie started to giggle, Richie turning pink.

“What is it?” Eddie continues to laugh, tapping his cheek. Richie turns to the mirror and blushes more as he sees the smudge on his face. “Fuck, I look so dumb--”

“Richie--it’s fine, really. Work was kind of upsetting, so that was the best thing I could have come home to.” Eddie gives him a genuine smile and Richie melts, scratching the back of his head. “Now, what are you hiding behind your back? It better not be a fucking fire extinguisher.”

“It’s not, I promise!” Riche chuckles. “How about you get in something more comfortable--I need like, three more minutes.”

“Sure thing.” Eddie turns and watches as Richie sighs, taking a fire extinguisher out from behind his back. Eddie whips around. “So it  _ was  _ a fire extinguisher!”

“How was I supposed to know that lemon juice and oil caused a cooking fire?!” Richie defends. “Nothing but the pan caught on fire--I promise!” Eddie raises an eyebrow. “But not like when I promised that there wasn’t a fire extinguisher behind my back.”

“Where did you even get one?”

“I’ve had it in here for years; just for emergencies. I don’t want to be sued because I burnt down the building.” 

Eddie giggles, opening his bedroom door. “This steak and mushroom and spinach saute better be good, considering that you almost burned down our apartment.”

“Don’t expect too much--wait, how’d you know?”

“One, I can see it in the saute in the pan. Two, you love steak. Three, you wanted red wite--it goes best with red meat like steak.”

“So it’s called ‘mushroom and spinach saute’?” Richie peeks over at the pan. Eddie snickers. “Huh, I just browsed for easy fancy food from what we had in the fridge.”

“Right. I’ll be out in five, trashmouth.”

As Eddie shut the door, Richie tore off the apron and ran a hand through his hair as he rushed to set the table, putting out the food. Fixing his dark purple button down shirt, he threw the dishes in the dishwasher, racing around to make sure everything else was perfect too.

As soon as Richie stopped, pulling on the collar of his shirt, he heard Eddie behind him, shutting the door.

“Perfect timing,” Richie grins. Eddie wasn’t completely out of his nice work clothes, but he had taken off his suit coat and tie, wearing jeans instead of suit pants. His white button down was still stiff like he had just ironed it and hadn’t gone through a full day’s work. His perfectly gelled hair topped it all off. Richie wondered how Eddie could be perfect in every way.

“Man, you’re actually in a nice shirt. I don’t think I’ve seen you in one since what--graduation? You’re usually wearing those crappy stretched out button downs that look like an off-brand hawaiian shirt.”

“Laugh it up, Eds. Just remember I’m the one who’s a comedian.”

“You’re only material used to be jokes of how you slept with my mom, and you still call me for help.”

“Whatever, my Eddie Spaghetti. Dinner’s ready. Do you have the wine?”

Eddie reaches over to where he had placed the drinks, grabbing the red wine. “Right here!” Richie held up the bottle opener and Richie pulled out the cork. “This actually looks pretty good for you, Rich.” Eddie sits down and Richie smiles.

“Thanks, Eds. Do you want a lot or a little?”

Eddie sighs, but gives Richie a smile. “I assume you want to get wasted tonight, so I guess I will too.” 

Richie beams. “So you’re staying home tomorrow?”

“I didn’t say that,” Richie fills up Eddie’s wine glass. “I intend on going to work tomorrow, but if my head hurts too much, there’s nothing I can do about it.” Richie grins and Eddie shakes his head, knowing that Richie will be pouring a lot more alcohol than necessary to keep him home.

As Richie pours his own and sits down, he looks nervously at Eddie. “It--it might not taste really good. Just a fair warning.” Eddie gives him a smile. “But tell me how it tastes.”

Eddie takes a bite and chews the steak, smiling. “Rich, this is actually awesome.” Richie blushes, smiling as Eddie stares at him, all his attention directed at Richie. “Like--wow, this is amazing! You did really good!” Richie scratches his head and laughs.

“Thanks, Eds.”

“Anyway, tell me more about your promotion.” Eddie scoots in his chair as Richie starts to eat too.

“Well, you already know how I’m going to be doing my first stand up as a special.” Eddie nods. “There’s also a bunch of stuff we’re going to need to sign tonight.”

Eddie covers his mouth, swallowing his food. “We?”

“Well, if you’re going to be working as my manager, they’re going to need to find a way to put you on the list to pay you.”

“Mmh,” Eddie nodded, smiling. “I get it now. You wanted me to become your manager just so we can get more money, didn’t you? Since we practically share bank accounts?”

Richie snickers. “Caught me, Eds.” Richie looks down at his plate, his face still dusted red. “But, no. It’s mostly because you keep me in check anyway. Plus, now I can take you to all my shows!” he laughs. Smiling softly at Richie, Eddie held his head in his hand.

“I wouldn’t miss them even if I wasn’t your manager. I’d want to see if your jokes were actually funny.”

“You see my Friday Night Live skits! Those are funny!”

Eddie laughs, his eyes closing as he does. When he opens them again, he takes a sip of the wine. “Yeah, I know they are. They always make me laugh.”

Richie flashes Eddie a big smile. “Good, because that’s their purpose!”

The two chatted as they ate, getting drunker and drunker as they went through each bottle of wine. Richie gave Eddie the autograph he got from Calvin Snyder, which was addressed to Eddie. Eddie told Richie about the crazy Smiths and they ranted about their day.

“Do you want me to make some old-fashioneds?” Eddie asks drunkenly, Richie shaking his head.

“We’ve still got a bottle left, so probably not--” Richie mutters, pouring the last of the second bottle evenly into both their glasses.

“I need to sit on the couch, I--I can’t sit in this stiff chair for much longer.” Richie grabbed the third bottle and opened it, laughing a bit. “Did--did we ev-ever do this when we wh… were in high school?” Eddie sits on the couch and laughs, holding his glass out to put it on the table.

“I wouldn’t put it past us,” Richie slurs, flopping on the couch, right next to Eddie. He tilts the bottle back and drinks straight from it.

“Disgusting,” Eddie sticks out his tongue. “I guess we don’t need the glasses, do we?” Richie shrugs.

“You can have the wine; I’ll take the bourbon.”

“N--No-o-o, that’s… that’s not save-- _ safe. _ ” Richie laughs as Eddie tries to speak. “Only take like a drink or two--what time… time is it?” Richie shrugs as he goes to the kitchen to get some glasses.

“L--Like eight thirty, I think. I can’t read the sticks on the time-frisbee. Clock--whatever it’s called.” Richie fumbles for the two bourbon glasses as Eddie drinks from the wine bottle. One glass falls to the ground and shatters. “Frick,”

Eddie puts his head in his hand, grinning. “Did you ser--seriously just say ‘ _ frick’ _ , trashmouth?” Eddie takes another drink.

“A-ha, so funny, my Eds Spagheds.” Richie steps away from the broken glass. “We can just take turns…” He sits back down and pours a glass, some spilling on the counter. “Would you like to go first?”

Eddie smiles dumbly. “Mm, nah… I like my wine ne-na-- _ now _ .” Richie shrugs, taking the drink and emptying the glass. “It’s ka--kind of funny,” Eddie slurs his words and Richie watches him as he continues to drink. “I never saw us living together like this…” Tilting his head, Eddie stares at Richie with love in his eyes. “But if I could go back and change it--I  _ never  _ would.”

Richie grins happily. “Really?”

“I think I love you, Richie.”

His face goes bright red as Eddie says it, making Richie’s heart feel like there were pigeons flying around in his stomach; not butterflies anymore. “Are you s--” Richie can barely sound his ‘s’ anymore. “--sure it’s not because you're practically wasted?” Eddie looks to the wine bottle in his hand. It’s practically empty already. Eddie shakes his head.

“No, I th--I think I’ve loved you since middle school.”

Richie’s practically out of breath. “I think--no, I  _ know _ I love you too, my Eddie Spaghetti.”

Richie can’t tell if Eddie’s blushing or if he’s had too much to drink, but Eddie seems to veer off. “How does the bourbon taste?”

Richie feels a little silly for the sudden change of topic, but Eddie seems to lean forward. “It’s actually pretty good. You should remember it in case we want to buy it again. Do you want some?”

“Just a taste,”

“Since I broke your glass, just use mine.”

“I don’t need a glass,”

Eddie presses his lips against Richie’s, closing his eyes. Richie’s widen in shock as his face turns a deep shade of cherry red before his eyes droop closed. Eddie’s hand is on Richie’s chest, Richie’s hands holding Eddie’s small waist.

Strangely, Richie felt like he had felt Eddie’s lips before.

He also thought that the red wine tasted much better this way.

“It is pretty good,” Eddie smiles. “How do you like the wine?”

“We should get it anytime we’ve got something to celebrate.” Richie fixes Eddie’s hair. “Can I have another taste of the wine?”

“Of course,” Richie pressed his lips against Eddie’s again, Richie leaning back on the couch. He tilts his head and Eddie smiles, Richie unable to stop himself from laughing a bit.

“Say it again, Eds.”

“I love you,”

“One more time?”

“I love you, so much.”

“I lied, this is the last time.”

“Richie Trashmouth Tozier,” Richie can feel Eddie’s breath on his lips. “I have never loved anyone as much as I’ve fallen in love with you.” Richie smiles and brushes his thumb against Eddie’s cheek as they continue to kiss.

“Why do I feel like I’ve kissed you so many times before?”

“I wouldn’t put it past us,” smiles Eddie. Richie laughs again. “Personally, I’ve heard your trashmouth enough today. I think I like them much better when they’re closed.”

“Fine with me,”

They kissed softly again, Richie’s heart beating out of his chest. He’d never forgive himself if he woke up. Finally, Eddie pulled away, laying his head in the crook of Richie’s neck. He smiled and let out a happy sigh as Richie started to draw circles on his back.

“It’s only half past nine, are you tired?”

Eddie nods a bit. “Long day,” he mutters. “I don’t want you to move.”

“Can I get us the blanket on the chair?” Eddie nods a little bit more, wrapping his arms around Richie’s neck as Richie tries to sit up as little as possible, taking the blanket off the chair. He draped it over Eddie and himself before moving to get comfortable. Eddie’s eyes fluttered closed and he fell asleep, Richie closing his own. He sighed as he held Eddie close, falling asleep after a few minutes.

To his surprise, Richie woke up first, his head pounding. Eddie’s breath was steady as he lay on Richie’s chest, only moving once and ever so slightly. Richie couldn’t remember a thing. Wracking his brain he searched for what had happened last night, but his mind was blank. As he looked around the apartment, all he could see were three bottles of wine; two empty and one with only about half a glass worth left, an open bottle of bourbon and two glasses. One was for the bourbon and one was for the wine.

“...Eddie?”

Eddie moves again, humming as he takes his arms out from around Richie’s neck. “Richie?” Eddie’s eyes were barely open as he rubbed them with his palm. “Shit, I’m sorry, did I fall asleep on you?”

Richie laughs a bit. “No, no… It’s fine, Eds.”

“Fuck, what happened?” Eddie rubs his head as he sits up, Richie sitting up too. He rubbed Eddie’s back. “My head is pounding.”

“I’m pretty sure we blacked out, Eds.” 

“Shit,” Eddie’s eyes go wide. “What time is it?!” As he stood up quickly, holding his head in his hand, Eddie rushed into the kitchen to look for the clock. “FUCK!”

Richie shot up. “Eddie?!”

“Ow, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck--” Richie runs to the kitchen to see Eddie on the floor, clutching his bleeding foot as tears brim his eyes. Glass is scattered on the ground. “Who the  _ fuck  _ shattered a glass on the floor?!”

“I’m gonna guess it was me,” winces Richie, dropping down to his knees. “I might be able to pull it out--”

“Do  _ not  _ fucking touch me!”

Richie gives Eddie a look. “Let me at least get you on the table or something, Eds.”

Eddie takes a deep breath and nods, Richie scooping Eddie up in his arms. Moving the plates from last night, he sat Eddie on the table, kneeling to inspect the wound. 

“Don’t you have a giant med kit in the bathroom?”

“S-second drawer down on the left.” Eddie tries not to move as Richie heads off into the bathroom. As he grabs the kit and returns, Eddie’s sitting still, biting his lip. “Here, I…” Eddie reached for the bag, but Richie smiled.

“It’s fine, Eds. I’ve got it.”

“Please don’t fuck it up,”

“I’ll try not to.” 

Eddie grabs Richie’s wrist as his other hand touches the shard of glass, wincing. “O-ow, Rich--”

“It’s alright,” Biting his bottom lip he closed his eyes as Richie pulled it out, covering the wound with a band-aid. “There we go, you big baby. It’s over.” Eddie smiles a bit and his cheeks go pink. He rolls his eyes. “Come on,” Richie picked Eddie up and set him sideways in the chair. “I’ll sweep it up. Just stay there.”

“Richie, I’ve got to go to work, it’s nearly nine fifty!”

“Relax. You’ve probably got a pounding headache!” Eddie huffs, crossing his arms. He watches as Richie grabs the broom and sweeps it up, dumping it in the trash. “What’s got you so excited to go to work?” smirks Richie, making Eddie blush more.

“S’not important.” Richie raises an eyebrow and Eddie scoffs, lifting the ball of his foot up. “Just some stuff I’d rather do today then on the weekend.”

Richie leans on the counter as Eddie is careful not to touch his wound to the floor. “Oh, really?”

“Yes,”

“Did someone say something?”

Eddie steps, sucking in a breath. “Shut up, Richie!” Richie snickers, walking over.

“Do you need me to carry you to your room?” he offers.

Eddie huffs, still blushing. “ _ Fine, _ ” he hisses. Richie scoops Eddie in his arms, who panics, holding onto Richie tightly. Both blush, looking away. Richie kicks open the door gently and sits Eddie on his bed. As he walks out of the room, he gives Eddie a wink and a two finger salute before closing the door.

Eddie can’t help but smile just a bit.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ANDJFNNFCKMDFKMSFJKXBCJXND IM WRITING AS FAST AS I CAN WERE OFF TO IT CHAPTER TWO!!!!!

##  Chapter Six

“So, I take it the date went  _ really  _ well.” Eddie nearly spit out his coffee, hitting his chest and coughing. Dan grins. “You’re late by almost two hours, your hair’s got no gel,  _ and  _ you’ve brought coffee from work. You drink your coffee at home  _ every day! _ ”

Eddie’s blushing furiously. “That’s  _ not  _ what happened!” states Eddie, putting his coffee cup down as he opened his computer.

“Right,”

“I’m being serious! We got drunk and passed out after dinner! I forgot to set my alarm and we both had pounding headaches and I didn’t have time to do my hair. That’s it.” Opening his desk drawer, he pulled out a brush and combed his hair again for good measure.

“So you can’t say you didn’t because you don’t remember.”

Eddie covers his face. “No; I can say I didn’t because even though I like hi--” Dan’s eyes went wide and his smile grew wider as he opened his mouth. “NO! NO, THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT!”

“Holy,  _ shit! _ ” Eddie puts his head on his desk and groans as Dan laughs. “Oh, man--that’s so amazing!” 

“Please forget that,”

“Nope!” Dan puts his hands on Eddie’s desk. “As a fellow risk analyst I concur that there is a thirty four percent chance you confessed your love, a  _ forty six  _ percent chance you kissed and a thirteen percent chance you--”

“Shh!!!” Eddie covered his eyes and practically melted into his desk. “God, this is the worst…”

“ _ This is the best! _ ” Vivian practically screams. Richie’s bright red as he tries to quiet her down, unable to suppress his smile. “Oh my god--tell me again what you remember?!”

Richie laughs as he scratches the back of his neck. “Well, I remember he told me the cooking was delicious and he was laughing at all my jokes while we were running low on like, the second bottle when I woke up on the couch with him sleeping on my chest.” Vivian squeals like a schoolgirl, waving her hands to cool herself down. “Calm down, Viv. You’re gonna get a cramp in your face--”

“Richie, oh my god this is so cute--did you talk to him?!” 

“About--?”

“About what happened, you dumbass!”

Richie laughs as his cheeks turn pink. “Not really, I mean, he doesn’t seem to remember anything and neither do I… He didn’t seem like--awkward. Just normal Eds.”

“Oh my god, this is so cute.” Vivian beams. “You know, when you go on the road with your new promotion, you should share a hotel room. It would be totally--”

Richie’s eyes go wide. “Shit, the signature sheets!” Richie curses, rifling through the papers on his desk. “I’ve got to run to Eddie’s office and have him sign--god, we were having such a good time I forgot to let him sign them!” He grabs the stack of papers and grabs his coat as he runs out of his office. “I’ll be back in a few; see ya, Viv!”

“Tell Eddie I said hi!”

Richie gets in the car and drives off to Eddie’s work. He wasn’t sure if he had been there before, but he knew the address. When he grabbed the papers, he opened the door to the building and walked inside. An old woman wearing glasses sat at the front desk.

“How can I help you, dear?”

“Um, I’m looking for Eddie--Edward Kaspbrak’s office?” Richie smiles and the old woman smiles back, nodding.

“He’ll be on the Risk Analyst floor which is the third. First door on the right.”

“Thank you so much,” Richie follows her directions and pushes open the glass door, a woman sitting at a desk with another door. She looks up and smiles at Richie.

“Hello, do you have a meeting with Mr. Kaspbrak?”

Richie turns red.  _ Shit _ . “No, shit. I’m very sorry, m’am. Um, you see, I was wondering if I could just pop in and have him--”

The woman grabs a file folder. “You may be on Mr. Kaspbrak’s list for people who don’t need a scheduled appointment. May I have your name?” Richie nods as he fiddles with the paper.

“My name is Richa--”

“Samantha, I was wondering if--” Dan steps in, looking at Richie in surprise. He stands up straighter and smiles. “Hello, sorry for the interruption. Did you need to talk with Edward?”

“Yeah, I just--”

Dan nods. “He’s filling out some paperwork right now, but I can help you if you’d like.” he shakes Richie’s hand. “Daniel Bessley.”

“I don’t need anything related to insurance, I just need to talk to Eds--Eddie-- _ Edward _ , sorry.” Richie laughs a bit. “I’m just not used to his real name.”

Dan smiles a bit, nodding. “Are you ‘Richie Tozier’?” Richie nods and Dan exchanges a glance with Samantha. “Well, in that case, you can go right in!” Dan opens the door for Richie to see Eddie at his desk, copying something from his computer onto paper. “Hey, Edward!”

“Dan, please, I already told you I did not ki--” Eddie looks up and turns red as he sees a blushing Richie standing in the door. He bolted up. “Richie! W-what are you doing here?! Couldn’t you have--couldn’t you have called?!”

Eddie glances at Dan and Samantha, who are watching with smiles on their faces. He waves them off, making Richie glance back, Eddie smiled at Richie. “Sorry, I just totally forgot to have you sign the manager papers last night,” Richie laughs, holding out the papers. Eddie turned red.

“Holy shit, Richie! I’m so sorry--you didn’t lose the promotion, did you?!”

Richie chuckles, making Eddie smile awkwardly, running a hand through his hair to make sure it was fixed. “Don’t worry, Eds. It’s fine. We can just sign them right now.”

“That--Yeah, here--” Eddie walks around to stand next to Richie, taking two pens from the cup on his desk. “So I just sign here, here, and--”

“Right there. I sign next to those two signatures.” Dan and Samantha grin, high-fiving each other. “You know, I really like your desk.” smiles Richie. Eddie looks at him.

“Really? I find it pretty boring, but that might be because I spend so much time here.” Eddie laughs a bit and Richie pats him on his head.

“I think that picture’s the best part.”

Eddie looked to a picture of the two of them at Six Flags. It was a chaotic picture, with Richie taking the photo with a huge smile on his face as he ran from Eddie, who was most likely swearing at Richie as he gained on him. Eddie could still remember.

_ “RICHIE!” Eddie shrieked, running after him. “Give me back my fucking phone!” _

_ “Come on, Eds! I’m gonna die if you take another picture; can’t you just live in the moment?!” Eddie was exhausted from walking around all day and was quite sure he was going to strangle Richie when he caught up. “What if I drop it in the water--?” _

_ “Richie, you asshole!” _

_ “Say cheese, my Eddie Spaghetti!” Richie lifted the phone and took the picture, laughing. _

“We should go on more vacations.”

“Well, we will! Now that I’m gonna be going everywhere to do my stand-up!” Richie grins and Eddie laughs. “I should probably go give these to my boss now, so I’ll get going!” Richie heads out the door and waves to Eddie before he leaves. “Oh, and by the way, Vivian says hi!”

Eddie smiles. “Bye, Rich!” As Richie leaves, Dan and Samantha poke their heads in, smiling. As Eddie snaps out of it, he turns bright red. “Don't say  _ anything, _ ”

***

**2016**

“This is the last night, right?” whines Eddie, scratching his head. Richie laughs as he sees Eddie sitting on his bed, still in his pjs with his computer in his lap.

“You don’t like New York?”

Eddie rolls his eyes. “That’s not it, I’m just going to  _ die  _ if I have to spend another day in this fucking hotel room.” Richie laughs as he sits down next to Eddie. “It’s like,  _ so  _ small.”

“How about next time I get two different rooms instead of one with two beds?”

“Or just a bigger hotel room.”

Richie grind. “What, you don’t want to stay somewhere without me?” Eddie laughs as he pushes Richie’s face away, shaking his head. “Whatcha workin’ on? Can I see?” Richie just scooted closer and pressed his cheek against Eddie’s. It made him laugh, continuing to push Richie off.

“No, you dumbass--get off!” Eddie laughs.

“Aw, come on! I took you sight-seeing yesterday! Why can’t I see?”

He hugs Eddie again, who tries to pull from it with a smile. “Because it’s confidential client information! I’ll get in trouble if I let you see!” Richie pokes Eddie’s side as he lifts up his computer, making him laugh.

“Come on, Eds!”

“Richie, no--!” he cries through laughter. Richie tickles him. “No, stop! You know I fucking hate being tickled!” Richie continues, swiping the computer from Eddie’s hand. “Richie, I swear--!”

“Let’s see; Client number one is Anne--”

Eddie takes the computer back and Richie laughs, making Eddie shake his head. “Fuck you, trashmouth.”

“Thanks,” Richie grins. “But, anyway. Should we go somewhere before my show? We could go downtown, or to the shopping district, or something.” Eddie closes his computer and puts it on the nightstand. He laughs and hugs his legs as he looks at Richie.

“Did you forget that New York is crawling with fans? That time we went on that boat ride and  _ everyone  _ wanted a picture?”

“My face still hurts,” Richie laughs.

“I rest my case,”

“Well, at least they didn’t just ask me questions--plenty of people were excited to meet you too.” 

“Because of your jokes.”

“Don’t you know that everyone’s favorite jokes are the ones with you and I?” Richie tilts his head to smile at Eddie.

Eddie raises an eyebrow. “You’re clearly trying to get me to do something.”

“The show is in two hours, Eds! Come on!”

Eddie sights, getting off the bed. He turns to Richie and crosses his arms. “How about this? It’s an hour and a half flight home and it leaves at one, so you can make an early dinner or late lunch before I get home from dropping off all my work and then we can have some drinks and watch some movies on the couch. Okay?” Richie sighs dramatically. “...Since we already saw everything because we’ve been here for almost three weeks.”

“Okay, that’s a fair point.” Richie stands up and stretches. “Should I go run through my material again?”

Eddie smiles and rolls his eyes. “Oh my god, let’s go for a walk you big baby.” Richie grins as Eddie grabs some clothes, heading into the bathroom to get ready. “It’ll be good for both of us; and we won’t have to pay for the taxi to the music hall.”

“I’m in!” shouts Richie, grabbing his jacket. Eddie comes out of the bathroom after a bit in his regular clothes, his hair done as he pulls on his shoes. “Are you ready to go?”

“Put your hat on, I’m not ready to be bombarded with people right now,” Eddie smirks and Richie rolls his eyes as he takes his cap off the door and puts it on. As Richie opens the door, they head out of the hotel and into Times Square, Eddie looks to all of the screens filled with advertisements. “You know, the one thing I won’t get tired of is this place; I will admit that.” Eddie smiles at Richie, who nods.

“Yeah, it’s kind of mesmerizing how big these screens are.” Richie looked back at Eddie and smiled. “So, where do you want to go, Eds?”

“Let’s get ice cream.” Eddie grabbed Richie’s hand and they made their way through the crowd. Eddie glanced back and Richie smiled, making Eddie laugh. When they found the nearest ice cream store, they went in, Richie taking off his hat. The two stared at the menu.

“What are you getting?”

Eddie smiles a bit. “I think the mango sorbet looks yummy; I’m in a fruit mood, I think.” Looking up to Richie, Richie put his elbow on Eddie’s shoulder to wordlessly tease him about his height. “What about you?”

“Probably just regular old chocolate,” Richie shrugs. “Maybe like some sprinkles or something.”

“Not it,” Eddie grins, making Richie sigh.

“Oh, fine.” Eddie giggles a bit as Richie steps forward, ordering and paying for the ice cream. He thanked the server and turned around, shaking his head. When Eddie reached for it, Richie held it up, grinning.

“Real mature, trashmouth.” Eddie drawls. Richie snickers and gives it to him. As they leave the store, Richie pulls his hat back on, the two walking shoulder to shoulder. 

“Can I try your mango sorbet?” Richie asks.

“ _ Hell  _ no.”

“Oh, there's the Empire State building,” Richie says, pointing up. As Eddie turns, Richie tastes Eddie’s ice cream. 

Eddie turns and gasps, hitting Richie. “You asshole!” he grins, making Richie laugh. “Now, you have to give me some of your ice cream!” Eddie moves for it, but Richie holds it out of Eddie’s reach.

“What? Says who?!”

“It’s only fair! You stole some of mine now I get some of yours. Even steven.”

“That’s dumb,” 

“No! Now I have less and you have more!”

“That’s not my problem.”

“Oh, it’s your problem alright,” scoffs Eddie, reaching for the ice cream. Richie moves it again. “Richie, I swear, you’re the worst.”

Finally Richie just rolled his eyes with a smile, holding out his ice cream. Eddie steadies it by holding Richie’s hand, tasting it.

“Are you happy, Eds?”

“See, now it’s fair.” Richie snorts, laughing.

“Whatever.” Richie pats his head. “I think you just wanted some of my ice cream.” Eddie smirks a bit, shrugging. Richie throws back his head and laughs, making Eddie laugh too. “How much time do we have?”

“Um…” Eddie pulls out his phone. “Less than... an hour.”

“We should probably get to the music hall,” sighs Richie.

“Well, finish your ice cream or I get yours when you get in your nice outfit; because I’m not risking you spilling chocolate ice cream on it.”

“Shit, you’re right.” mutters Richie, eating faster. They make their way to Radio City Music Hall, a man standing by the side doors looking worried. “Is that Cal?”

“I think so,”

“Richie!” Cal whisper-hisses as he spots the two. “Eddie!” as they make their way over, he eyes the crowd waiting to be let in. “What the hell, you two? You were supposed to be here an hour ago!”

Richie shrugs. “But we got ice cream,” he explains.

“Is that Richie Tozier?”

The three look up to see most of the mob of fans turning to see them, some people starting to shout.

“Oh, fuck--”

“Get inside!” orders Cal, opening the door. “Eddie, go!” Eddie follows Richie in and Cal sighs as he steps in, shutting the door, the excited scream of fans still audible from outside. “This is why you had to be here an hour ago.” mutters Cal. He looks at Eddie. “And what about you? You’re his manager, not me! I mean, we need to get him ready-- _ is that sorbet and chocolate? _ ”

Richie shrugs. “Maybe,”

“Oh my god, just go change.” sighs Cal, running off in the other direction. Richie laughs a bit as he looks at Eddie. They rush into the changing room, Eddie handing Richie his sorbet.

“Which suit was it again?”

“Well, it's hardly a suit. Just really the jacket and a t-shirt underneath, but it’s the last one on the rack.” Richie finishes his ice cream and exchanges the sorbet for the suit. Eddie gives him a wink before leaving the room.

As Richie dresses up, checking his suit in the mirror, his phone goes off, making him look down for the caller. He stops.

_ Derry, Maine. (207)-159-4557. _

Reaching down slowly, his hand shakes as he presses the green answer button, holding the phone to his ear. Richie swallows and takes a deep breath.

“..Hello?”

The voice on the other end is a man, somewhat familiar. “Richie? It’s Mike.”

“Mike...who?”

“Mike Hanlon.”

Richie closes his eyes. “What is it?” 

“Twenty seven years ago you made a promise… do you remember that scar on your hand?” Richie looks down at his hand and winces, his breathing getting quicker. Closing his hand, he shut his eyes, trying to ignore the images and screams flashing through his head.

“I’ve made a lot of promises, dude.”

“You have to come back to Derry.” Richie wipes his face with his hand, sitting down on the chair in the changing room. “It’s time to come home.”

“No, Mike.” Richie shakes his head. “No.”

“Richie--”

“I can’t, okay? I can’t because of another promise I made twenty seven years ago. A promise to protect someone, and right now that promise has held strong. If I go back, something will go wrong.”

“You have to. It’s the only way.”

“No!” Richie clenches his fist and shakes his head again. “I can’t, Mike.”

“Richie.”

Richie feels sick to his stomach, covering his mouth as tears slip down his cheeks. “Have you called Eddie?”

“No--”

“ _ Don’t. _ ”

“Richie, I have to. I don’t know what you remember, but it’s the only way. We all need to come back.” Richie takes a deep breath.

“When… and where are we meeting?” he whispers, fighting the pain in his throat. Richie grabs a pen and paper as he scribbles down the address. He stuffs it in his pocket when he’s done.

“Goodbye, Richie. I’ll see you tonight.”

The line goes dead and Richie drops his phone on the counter, finding it difficult to breathe.

“Richie!” Eddie calls, knocking on the door. “Are you almost ready?” Looking up in his reflection, Richie gets the sudden feeling he’s going to throw up. Eddie knocks again. “Are you okay? Do I need to come in--?” Richie throws open the door and Eddie staggers back as Richie sprints around the back and to another side door. “Rich!” Eddie chases after him, Cal grabbing Eddie’s arm.

“What’s going on?!”

“Richie just ran off, I think something’s wrong--” The two run after Richie to see him hanging over the railing, clearly done vomiting. “Richie!” Eddie grabs him as Richie faces him, looking like he’s about to pass out.

“Eds…” he breathes, his face pale.

“Holy shit, is he okay?” asks Cal. 

Eddie presses his hand to Richie’s forehead, scanning his face. “He doesn’t have a fever--are you alright?” Richie closes his eyes and starts to head back inside. “Richie, do you need something to drink?”

“Yeah, get me a fucking whiskey.”

“Richie, no--!”

“Richie, yes.” he states, still walking quickly.

“This way,” Cal orders, an alarm bell going off. “Atta boy--” Someone shoves a whiskey and water in Richie’s hands, making him somewhat shocked. He starts to drink them both, Eddie concerned as he follows. 

“Alright,” he stops at his entrance of the stage. “How do I look?”

Cal and Eddie exchange glances, Cal hesitating before he tells him. “Uh, your hands are shaking, Rich.” Richie looks down at his hands, which are, clearly shaking. Eddie looks up at him.

“Shit,” as he hands the glasses to Cal, but Eddie grabs Richie.

“What’s wrong…? Something’s clearly bothering you.”

Richie takes a deep breath. “Is your phone on ‘Do Not Disturb’?” Eddie seems a little confused.

“Of...Of course, I always put it on during your shows,” Eddie answers.

“Good. Don’t turn it back on until I tell you too; please.”

Eddie lets go of Richie. “Okay…”

“I’m fine, Eds. I’ll see you after.”

As Richie pats Eddie’s head, he walks out onto the stage, the man over the speaker introducing him. “Ladies and gentleman, please welcome Richie Tozier!” Richie walks out and smiles, music playing to welcome him. Cal looks to Eddie, who’s nervously chewing on his nails.

“Are  _ you  _ okay?”

Eddie shakes his head. “Something happened; he’s never this shaken. I’m afraid something bad is gonna happen.”

“Like what, is he gonna faint?”

“Or freeze up--something’s wrong.”

Cal looks back and watches as Richie reaches the mic. “Alright, how are we doing tonight?” Richie calls, the crowd cheering even louder. “That’s good! Really good!” Richie laughs, Eddie keeping his eyes trained on him. “It’s great to be in New York’s Radio City!” Everyone cheers again. “I’ve got to admit, it was pretty amazing visiting New York. As some of you know, I come from a small town where we didn’t have all these cool screens on the side of buildings and shit.” Richie shrugs as everyone laughs. “But it’s really cool! I came here with by best friend, roommate and manager, Eddie Kaspbrak--”

Everyone hollers and cheers, a few people yelling some nice words. Richie laughs a bit. “Good, you like him. I don’t have to end you all.” Everyone laughs. As Richie takes the mic in his hand, he walks to the right a bit. “I did realize lately that a lot of people, not just on the streets but fans and people I work with constantly think that Eddie and I are either married, dating, engaged or we have checked the ‘other’ box on a relationship form.” Everyone laughs again, even Eddie smiling a bit. “And I will tell you that nothing is more awkward than when we’re downtown or we see people and they ask--” Richie moves the mic closer to his mouth to make himself louder. “ _ \--Where’s the ring? _ ” People are already laughing to the point where their stomachs are starting to hurt, Richie still smiling. “But I won’t deny that I see why people think we are together; I mean when I was like, thirteen I made a promise to protect him and…” The crowd lets out a collective ‘aww’, Richie seeming to freeze up. “I mean, I’ve stuck by it for twenty seven years...”

Richie stops as he hears it in the back of his mind, making his head hurt. 

_ “Can you save us, Richie?” _

_ “You won’t win, Richie. You can’t beat me.” _

_ “You promised me you’d protect me. You won’t let it get me, will you?” _

_ “EDDIE, NO!” _

Richie picks up his water and takes a sip, Eddie covering his mouth as the crowd starts to murmur. 

“S… sorry, everyone, I’m just--”

“Something’s wrong.” Eddie mutters.

Cal looks at Eddie. “What?”

“Cal, he looks sick, he’s gonna--” Richie falls over and hits the stage floor, people screaming in shock as the feedback from the mic hums like a wasp. “RICHIE!” Eddie rushes on stage as cameras start flashing, dropping to his knees next to Richie. The curtains start to close as someone over the speaker tries to calm the crowd, the house lights coming on. “Oh my god, Richie--what happened?!”

“I think... I hit... my head…” Richie groans, Eddie helping him sit up. Cal rushes in with a water, handing it to Richie. “Thanks…” He starts to drink it as Eddie inspects his face.

“You scared me, Rich.” Eddie tells him. Eddie pulls him in a hug when Richie stops drinking. Richie hesitates before hugging him back. “I mean, god. What’s wrong? It’s clearly something.”

“Eddie, I promise--I’m fine. I must have not eaten enough for breakfast.” Eddie doesn’t let go, heaving a sigh. When he finally lets go, he looks at Richie’s eyes. Richie blushes a bit as Eddie caresses his thumb on Richie’s cheek, letting out a worried hum.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,”

“Do you want to go home early?” Richie nods a bit. “Okay,” mutters Eddie. “Cal, can you book us an earlier flight? Our bags are already at the hotel and packed, I’ll go get them while Richie waits in the taxi.”

“But the show—!” Eddie whips his head around and stares at Cal, who pulls at his collar. “I mean… I’ll go call for a flight change right now.” As Eddie helps Richie stand, Richie smiles weakly.

“I’m okay, Eds. You don’t have to worry so much.”

“I’ll worry as much as I fucking want to,” states Eddie, helping Richie off the stage. “Do you want to change back into your other clothes before we leave?”

Richie shakes his head. “No, it’s okay.”

Cal returned as Eddie sat Richie down. “The taxi’s outside; but so are a lot of panicked fans. Do you want me to have security keep them back?” Eddie nods. “I can also send someone to pick up your things from the hotel.”

“Thanks Cal, but I’ve got it. How long until our next flight?”

“I’ve got you a TSA pass, but traffic’s like half an hour so I booked you the one that leaves in an hour and a half.”

Eddie nods. “Can you walk out?” Richie laughs a bit.

“I told you I’m okay, Eds. I’ll walk.” Eddie holds Richie’s hand and drapes Richie’s arm over his shoulder just for precaution. “Let’s go,” Eddie walks with Richie as they follow Cal to the door, the sound of fans roaring. Richie waved a bit, Eddie glancing at him. 

“What are they yelling, Cal?” Eddie asks.

“Uh--Reddie. R-e-d-d-i-e. It’s a big deal on social media; it’s your names put together.” Cal thinks for a second. “It’s their way of saying that they think you guys are or should be dating.” Richie and Eddie meet eyes before looking away, their faces turning red. Cal smiles a bit at their reactions, seeming to realize. He nods. “Personally, I think this is just going to make it get even more popular.”

“What? Why?” 

Cal shrugs. “Eh, well… I mean with what Richie said about you guys being close for like, forever… The fact that the second Richie collapsed and the first thing the crowd sees is Eddie running to him, and now you’re holding hands.”

Eddie blushes more. “Th--this is just to make sure Richie doesn’t fall again!” he defends. Cal rolls his eyes.

“I don’t know. Maybe you guys should get girlfriends to wash some of the rumors away or get seperate apartments--”

“What?”

“Absolutely not!”

“That’s a horrible idea,”

Cal can’t help but smirk as he opens the taxi door, Richie getting in and then Eddie. “Anyway, I’ll see you guys later,” Eddie and Richie wave to Cal as he shuts the door, the taxi driving to the hotel.

“I’ll be right back, Rich, Your bag is just on your bed, right?” Richie nods and waits as Eddie runs into the hotel. Richie looks to the seat to see Eddie’s phone; there weren’t any missed calls yet. Richie put it back where it was before Eddie came back with their bags. He throws them in the trunk and gets back in the taxi, tilting his head as he looks at Richie. “You’re super pale, Rich. Why don’t you sleep on the way home?”

“On the car ride to the airport or on the plane.”

“You can do both; you’ve been staying up for your shows. You might need rest.” Eddie tilts his head for Richie to lay his head on his shoulder. “There you go,” he smiles, leaning his head on Richie’s. “Go ahead and rest.”

“Thanks, Eds.”

Sleeping through the half hour car ride, Eddie woke him up to get him on the plane before falling back asleep for the hour and a half plane ride. By the time they got home, Richie had forgotten about Derry and Eddie made Richie lunch.

“Now, I have to go to my office so Dan can help me catch up on my other work, but I’ll be home by five. Okay?”

“Alright, I’ll make dinner.”

As Eddie grabbed his phone and keys, he smiled at Richie. “Thanks. See you tonight.”

Richie thought to himself. About what Cal had said and what Viv tells him. Standing up, he rummaged through the pantry to find the box of spaghetti, he set it on the counter and got dressed in a nice outfit, letting out a sigh. He pulled out his phone and texted Eddie.

_ Tonight is gonna be a fancy dinner; I’ve got something to tell you. _

Richie closed his eyes and pressed send, his face going red. He sat on the kitchen floor and looked up to the pictures on the wall. They had put up lots more frames. One of a blushing Eddie standing next to Richie on the stage of Richie’s first special, another Eddie had taken when they went out to a fancy sushi restaurant of Richie caught off guard, his mouth full as he looked to the camera. Pictures from vacations and one of Vivian, Eddie and Richie, all three posing silly for the picture.

He just prayed that Vivian was right, and that Eddie shared the same feelings as Richie.

His phone went off, Richie looking to Eddie’s reply.

_ Can’t wait, Rich! Now you’ve got me wondering what it is :) _

Eddie’s heart was beating out of his chest. Dan was laughing his ass off, shaking Eddie excitedly. “Holy  _ fuck! _ ” he shouts. “He’s gonna ask you out! He’s gonna do it, you know!”

“No, he’s not! It’s--no, that’s not what’s going to happen!”

“Are you going to say yes?”

“It doesn’t matter if I say yes--I shouldn’t get my hopes up anyway!” Dan’s eyes go wide and he grins, Eddie’s face turning red. “S-SHUT UP! I DIDN’T MEAN IT LIKE THAT!”

“Edward, listen--”

“Eddie,”

“Eddie, sorry. Listen--a fancy dinner with something to tell you? I wouldn’t be surprised if you came back here tomorrow  _ engaged _ ,”

“What?!”

“Now obviously he’s not gonna propose, but he’s going to ask you out. Screw work, I’m gonna help you get ready.” Dan pats Eddie’s shoulder. “I’ve seen the way he comes by the office saying he needs stuff when he really just wants to see your face.”

“...Really…?”

“SAMANTHA!”

“Already here,” Samantha says, holding up a hair brush and a bag of hair products. “I was a hair stylist before I became a secretary, I did a lot of dates.”

“See? She’s a natural.” Dan sat Eddie in his chair and waved Samantha over. She got to work right away, styling Eddie’s hair. “Damn, you’ve got another suit in your desk, right? You should put it on, minus the jacket. That way you look super nice but not work formal.”

“Why?”

“Well, you’re not going to just go on your date in these clothes; you’re wearing a t-shirt and jeans.”

“I just got home from New York and I don’t have an actual work day, I’m just coming in to--”

“I know, I’m not judging--I’m just telling you that you’re going to impress him.” Dan looks at Samantha. “Is he almost done?” She nods and steps back, Dan nodding. He opens Eddie’s desk and pushes the suit in his hand, giving him a thumbs up. “Now go change.”

“But--”

“Go! Go! We don’t have all night!” Dan pushes Eddie out of the room, who goes to change in the bathroom. Dan and Samantha fist-bump, nodding when he walks back in, his suit jacket resting on his forearm. Eddie blushes, scratching the back of his neck.

“Ah, no!” shouts Samantha, smacking his hand. “Don’t touch your hair; it's already good--and you’re not going to ruin it.”

“S-sorry,” blushes Eddie. She pulls out her phone and snaps a picture before handing her phone Eddie’s blush worsened as he saw himself. “This--This is ridiculous…” he mutters, covering his face. “I can’t do this--I look pathetic.”

“You do  _ not _ !” exclaims Dan, dusting Eddie’s shoulder. Eddie looked at Dan. “Do you like Richie?”

“...Well, y-yes--”

“Do you want to be with him?”

Eddie’s face gets redder. “I do,”

“Then you fucking gather your goddamn courage and come back to work no longer a single man, you hear me?”

“Y-Yes!” Eddie exclaims, Dan grinning.

“Fuck yeah!” he smacks Eddie’s back, who grabs his things. “Now you go back and have your date with that son of a bitch!” Eddie’s smiling, nodding as he runs out the door. Dan puts his hands on his hips and smiles proudly. Samantha watches as Eddie leaves.

“What was the percentage of this going horribly wrong?” she asks.

“Sixty-three percent; but you don’t tell him the stats.” Dan claps his hands together and shrugs. “Besides, usually it’s at like, Eighty nine, so it’s pretty low.”

“Hm,” Samantha nods.

Eddie got into Richie’s car (his SUV was at the shop, so Richie just let Eddie use his) and drove home, opening the door to the apartment carefully. The lights were slightly dimmed, the dining room table set with dinner; pasta. Eddie blushed as he realized the pun.

“Hey, my Eddie Spaghetti,” says Richie, making Eddi turn around to see Richie looking like he had tried to look his best, his face dusted red. “You--er, you look really good. How was--how was work?”

Eddie smiled a bit at the suddenly nervous Richie. “It was really good, you look really nice, too.”

Richie tries to laugh off the compliment. “Thanks, Eds.” he clears his throat. “I--I uh, made spaghetti. You know, because--” Eddie laughed, making Richie smile.

“Yeah, I get it. That’s really clever, actually. I like it.”

They sit down and Richie searches to speak. “So, um… You know, I was thinking about what Cal said… About everyone thinking we were together,” Eddie felt a little sick to his stomach as some things seemed to make a bit of sense.

Was this Richie telling Eddie that they should live separately? Or did he start looking for a girlfriend? Eddie’s heart started to pound. “Yeah?”

“I think--I mean…” Richie Clears his throat. “Eddie, I lo--”

Eddie’s phone went off, baking both their faces flush red. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, Richie. I--I thought--I must have not muted it--” Richie’s heart drops. He already knew who was calling, and by the look on Eddie’s face, he was right. “Oh my god…” Eddie whispers, tears coming to his eyes. He covered his mouth.

“It’s from Derry, isn’t it?”

Eddie looks back up at Richie. “How did you--?”

“Please don’t answer,” begs Richie, biting his lip. He looked frightened. “Just--please, Eddie.”

Eddie looked down at the phone and it rang out, Richie closing his eyes. “Richie, is this why you fainted at the--” The phone went off again and Richie covered his ears, his breathing broken and panicked. Eddie glanced at Richie and then at his phone, pressing the answer button. He lifted it to his ear. “Hello…?”

“Eddie?”

“Who’s this?”

“Mike. Mike Hanlon from Derry. Do you remember me?” Eddie glanced at his hand and winced.

“Yes,”

“You need to come home. Everyone is coming back. We’re meeting at the asian restaurant in three hours.” Eddie swallowed nervously. “You might be staying a few days, so pack accordingly.”

“Right, I’ll be there.”

“Goodbye,”

The phone line cut off and Eddie put the phone face down on the table. He looked to Richie, both their eyes filled with tears. “Eds,” muttered Richie.

“Were you going to tell me?” asks Eddie quietly. “I mean, you already got the call when? Before your show?” Eddie laughs sarcastically, narrowing his eyes at Richie, who still has his head in his hands, tears slipping off his face and onto the table. “Or did you get the call before that? Were you ever going to tell me?”

“No,”

“Why not? Why weren’t you going to tell me? Were you just going to leave me here; leave me wondering where the hell you went? When you were going to be back?”

“I didn’t want you to come, and just because you got the call doesn’t mean I’ll let you.”

“I’m sorry,” Eddie shakes his head. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“I’m saying that you’re going to stay here at the apartment.”

“I’m sorry  _ what? _ ” Richie got up from his seat and went into his room, pulling out his suitcase. “Wait, you’re already fucking  _ packed?!  _ What the fuck, Richie?” Richie pulls his bag along as he moves out of his room.

“Don’t bother, Eds. I’m not bringing you along, so drop it now.”

“No, no, no, no--come back here--what the  _ fuck? _ ” Eddie shouts, chasing after Richie as he drops his bag by the door. “You can’t just go without me! Mike wants everyone there, you can’t just keep me locked up in the apartment!”

“Eddie, I told you to drop it.”

“No!” he cries, pushing Richie to face him. “Why can’t you face me? Just  _ look  _ at me, Rich!” Eddie grabs his arm, but Richie looks to the left, his face hard. “What are you so afraid of?! We’re going to meet old friends--what the hell are you not telling me?!”

“I know what I’m talking about. Let it go, Eddie. You don’t have a say in this, okay? I’m protecting you! No matter how much you yell, I’m not taking you to Derry!”

Eddie grits his teeth, taking a step back. “Protecting me from  _ what?! _ This is bullshit!” Eddie points to the floor. “I’m not some helpless little kid anymore, Richie! I’m an adult too! We’re in this together and I don’t need you to protect me from whatever you’re so afraid of, do you understand that? I’m not this--I’m not this week, pathetic little kid who needs to take all these pills and has a thousand allergies and--”

“BECAUSE I WON’T LET YOU DIE IN FRONT OF ME!”

Eddie freezes as Richie finally looks to him, tears streaming down his face Eddie glances at his arm that Richie’s gripping tightly. Richie lets go, sitting down on one of the dining room tables. He holds his head in his hands.

“Richie--”

“I can’t…” Richie whispers. “For twenty seven  _ fucking _ years I’ve had the same dream, night after night; I--I can’t let that dream come true. I just--I just can’t, Eds.” His shoulders shake as he cries silently. “The same thing. I can never save you, no matter how hard I try.” Richie covers his mouth and Eddie stares in shock, unable to fathom the words. “I just… Maybe if I do this, I can save you.”

“Richie, please--”

“I can’t lose you, Eds! You mean too much, and I just--I don’t know how I would be able to go on if I came back to the apartment, go to my shows, go shopping--all of those things without you. I couldn’t do it. I’d go crazy, knowing I could have stopped this--”

“Richie!” Eddie grabs Richie by his wrists, kneeling in front of him. As Richie stops blabbering, he looks at Eddie in the light of their apartment. “Just calm down,” he says quietly, looking at Richie with what Richie loved most about him; his eyes. They made him breathe again. “You don’t have to worry, Richie. We’re in this together, and we always will be. Do you understand me?” Eddie brushed Richie’s hair out of his face. “And even if what happens in your dream does happen, it’s just a dream, and you’ll know it’s coming. I’ve trusted you with my life for as long as I can remember because… Because you’re  _ amazing _ . You’re capable of anything.”

“Eds...”

Eddie hugs Richie, who sinks out of the chair and onto the ground, holding Eddie tightly in his arms. Richie buries his face in Eddie’s neck, crying into him. “It’s okay…” mutters Eddie reassuringly, drawing circles on his back.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispers.

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry for,” as Richie looks back to Eddie, he cups Richie’s face with his hands, wiping the tears with his thumbs. Richie sniffs back the tears. “Now, can I go pack my stuff?” Richie nodded, Eddie smiling. “Are you gonna let go so I can do that?”

Richie laughs and lets go of Eddie’s hands. He watches as Eddie disappears into his room. Richie knew Eds was a heavy packer, so he had to have just enough time. Grabbing a pen and letter from the junk drawer, Richie wrote out a letter before closing its envelope and writing Eddie’s name on the front. He sticks it to the fridge. By the time he shoves his things out the door, Richie turns to see Eddie pulling his bag out of his room. Richie smiles sadly.

“Right, I’m ready.”

“I’m sorry for what I’m about to do.” Richie tells him. Eddie gives Richie a confused smile.

“What?” Richie swipes Eddie’s keys to the apartment. “Richie--!” He slams the door shut and locks it, snapping his key in the lock to keep it from being opened. “No, Richie! RICHIE, OPEN THE DOOR!  _ LET ME OUT OF HERE! _ ”

As Richie puts his forehead to the door, he continues crying. “I’m so sorry, my love,” he whispers. “I’m so sorry I have to do this...”

“Richie, open the fucking door! This isn’t a joke!” Eddie pulls on the handle and pounds on the door. “Richie, please! What if you get hurt?!”

“I’ll be back, Eds.”

“RICHIE!”

Richie grabs his bag and heads down the stairs, throwing his bag in his car. He knew Eddie’s work would come to investigate if Richie took longer than a week, and there was at least three weeks worth of food. Besides, since Eddie had his car in a shop to get it fixed up, there was no way that he’d be able to get to Derry.

As he drives off, Eddie rushes to the window and pushes it open to see Richie’s car driving down the road.

“ _ Fuck! _ ” he hisses, slamming his hand on the window sill. He had to go after Richie. Even if it killed him. 

Running at the door, Eddie slammed into it, simply bouncing off the door. He sucked in a breath and rubbed his arm. Raising his foot he kicked on the door, nothing happening. Yelling in anger, Eddie looked around. He grabbed the letter and glared at it, but stuck it in his coat pocket. His eyes landed back on the windows of the house. Pulling out his phone, Eddie called a taxi, then dragging his bag to the window. Dropping it out the window, Eddie winced as it hit the ground, but it did hold up. Dangling out the window, Eddie dropped down and picked up his bag. He dusted himself off and saw the taxi roll up. Throwing his bag inside he got in, tapping the driver’s shoulder. 

“There’s a hotel in Derry, Maine. Could you take me there?”

Richie wiped his tears from his eyes as he drove, pulling up his phone, he dialed a number and put the phone to his ear.

“ _ Hello? _ ”

“Viv. It’s Richie.”

“ _ Hey Richie! I thought you were hanging with Eddie tonight? _ ”

Richie sighed, looking to his left out the window. He felt as if Eddie was somehow still following him. “Look, do you remember that favor you owe me?” he looks back to the road.

“ _ Yeah, what do you need? _ ”

“I need you to find the address of a man named Stanley Uris. He might go as Stan,” Richie tells her.

“ _ Okay, hold on a second. I’ll text you the address, okay? _ ”

“Thanks,” Richie hung up, and in a few minutes, he got a text from Vivian. He pulled up the address and put it in the GPS before speeding up, Richie glanced at Eddie’s med kit he stole from the bathroom and sighed. Richie was going to save them. He was going to save them no matter what that stupid clown said.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DAMN YO IM THROWIN OUT A CHAPTER A DAY WE’RE ON IT 2 NOW!!!!!

##  Chapter Seven

Richie looked through his car’s windows to scan the houses, muttering to himself. Finally stopping in front of a house, Richie got out of the car, walking up to the house. He knocked, a woman answering the door.

“Can I help you?” she asks, looking Richie up and down.

“Hi, um--are you Mrs. Uris?” The woman nods. “I’m Stanley Uris’s old friend from high-school. If he ever told you about the losers club?”

The woman smiles. “Oh my gosh, it’s nice to meet you! If you just stay right here, I’ll go get him. He’s just up in the bathroom brushing his teeth.” Richie smiles and the woman leaves the door open, waving him inside. “Come on, in.” Richie stepped inside and watched as the woman ran upstairs, calling for Stanley.

When the woman screamed, Richie’s heart dropped. “Stan?!” he shouted, running upstairs to see Stanley panting as he clutched his wrist. It was gushing blood, spilling all over the bathroom floor. “STANLEY!” Stanley looks up to Richie, seeming shocked. Richie grabbed a towel off the bathroom sink and tied it tightly around Stan’s wrist to constrict the arteries and stop the bleeding. He raised Stanley’s hand up, looking back to him.

“Richie? How--You knew?”

“What the fuck were you thinking?!” shouts Richie, turning to Stanley’s panicking wife. “Call nine-one-one! We need to get him to a hospital!” As she runs back downstairs, Richie looks back to Stanley. “What the fuck?!”

“I… I thought if…” Stanley wavers, Richie holding him steady. “I thought if I…” Stanley looks up to Richie. “I thought if I took myself off the board, the rest of you would make it alive.”

Richie hugs Stanley, who hugs Richie back. “Fuck, man… You scared the shit out of me,”

“How’d you know?”

“I… I’ve been having dreams for years. About who dies.”

Stanley looks at him in shock. His wife runs back in, crying. Stanley hugs her as she wails. “STAN, I HAD NO IDEA!” she sobs, Stanley looking regretful. “OH, YOU ALMOST DIED!”

“Are the paramedics here?”

The wife sniffs, nodding her head as she wipes her tears. “Th-th-they’re downstairs in the l-l-living room,” Richie nods and helps Stanley down the stairs, handing him off to the paramedics, Richie telling them what had happened. Stanley’s wife throws Richie in a hug. “Oh, thank you so much! My husband would be dead if it weren’t for you! How can I ever repay you?!”

Richie blushed in embarrassment, patting her back to comfort her. “It’s no problem, Mrs. Uris. You don’t need to repay me.”

“Ma’m,” said one of the paramedics. “You can follow us if you’d like to stay with your husband in the hospital.” 

She nodded before thanking Richie again, running off to join her husband. Richie sighed in relief, scratching the back of his head. As he got back in his car, he hit his head on the wheel, catching his breath. It was too close. He almost failed. Taking a deep breath, Richie turned the car back on and continued his drive back to Derry. When he reached the restaurant, he stepped out, walking to see Beverly and Ben hugging.

“Wow,” Richie says, the two looking at Richie. “You two look amazing,” Beverly smiles and Ben laughs. “What the  _ fuck  _ happened to me?” He smiles, Ben giving him a hug. “What’s going on, you guys?”

“Nothing much, trashmouth.”

Richie hugs Beverly when Ben lets him go, the three entering the restaurant. Bill and Mike were already chatting, Richie hitting the gong. “This meeting of the loser’s club has officially begun!” Bill and Mike smile, giving everyone hugs.

***

“Okay, okay--let's get over this topic, please? Come on, what about the damn elephant  _ not  _ in the room?” Richie points to Ben, smiling. “Ben!” Ben looks to Richie, smiling a bit. “What the fuck, man?” he laughs, everyone chiming in.

“Okay, okay,” he smiles, moving his beer around. “Obviously I lost a few pounds--”

“Lost a  _ few _ pounds?”

“Yeah, no shit you lost a few pounds!” Beverly traces the rim of her glass as Richie laughs, holding his hand towards Ben. “You’re like, uh… you’re hot!” everyone laughs a bit. Ben laughs into his drink as well. “No, you’re like every brazillian soccer player rolled into one! I mean, gorgeous!” Bill claps his hands together as he laughs, Mike taking another bite of his food. 

“Okay, okay--stop it!” smiles Beverly. “Leave him alone. You’re embarrassing him!”

“Okay, okay, alright!” Ben speaks over the group as he swallows his food. “Please, come on! I mean, are Stan and Eds coming or what?”

Richie shifts, Mike looking at him. The whole table goes silent, looking to the empty chairs. “Well, Eddie said he would be here, but I didn’t get Stanley--”

“I… He almost died about an hour ago,” mutters Richie. Everyone seems shocked. “I visited him and his wrist was bleeding so bad that he almost…” Richie stopped. “Well, you get the picture, right…?”

“Oh, my god!” Beverly says.

“Where is he?”

“He’s at the hospital, so he won’t make it here,”

Bill puts his hand over his mouth. “Holy shit,” he looks at the other empty seat next to Richie. “What about Eddie? Is he okay? Has anyone heard from him?”

Richie smiles a bit. “No, he’s… he’s okay, I… He’s at home right now.” Ben takes a drink from his water.

“Wait, don’t tell me; are you two together?” he grins. Richie turns a bright red.

“What? No! No, that’s--that’s crazy!”

Mike chuckles. “I don’t know, man. How did you know? I’ve heard the news; aren’t you guys living together? I thought he was your manager,” Beverly gasps and looks to the blushing Richie, who covers his face. 

“No way!”

“Yeah! Many people think they’re in a secret relationship so they don’t ‘tarnish Richie’s career’.” smirks Mike.

“Well, it’s not true--”

Bill shrugs, not really believing it. “Oh, come on. You guys would like, never leave each other’s side in school.”

“Oh, so sue me, we were best friends.”

“You guys live together, Rich.” Ben points out. Richie opens his mouth, but Ben continues. “Wait, wait, wait… Here’s how we tell if it’s a relationship or not--how long have you guys lived together?” Bill lifts his glass. “Ten bucks for seven years,”

“Oh, seven? I’m gonna guess at least fourteen,” Beverly laughs, grinning at Richie.

“Woah, no. Like--maybe two.” Bill bets.

“Six,” nods Mike. They look to Richie, who scratches his cheek.

He laughs nervously. “It’s not that big of a deal, it’s just to save money…” he looks to the losers, who are eagerly waiting for a response. “But--oh, fuck. It’s not like that guys…” Beverly raises a brow. “Since we graduated, so like… almost eighteen years now…?”

Bill chokes on his drink, throwing his head back to laugh. “Oh, they’re so married! Oh my god--let’s see the ring, trashmouth!” Mike grins ear to ear, the waitress coming in with drinks.

“Wait, so--Richie-- _ please  _ tell me he became a doctor.”

Richie chuckles. “No, actually. He’s both my manager and a risk analyst.”

“Oh my god, that’s right! How is it being a comedian? Does Eddie still get pissed at your jokes?” asks Ben, shifting in his chair. He smiles at Richie, who laughs. 

“Actually, a little bit. I don’t tell him as much because we’re usually planning for my next show. But yeah, when I do he does get upset still.” Beverly laughs. “I ask him if is insurance job was invented before fun just to make him go off sometimes,”

“Is he still the same old Eddie?”

Richie rubs the back of his neck. “Yeah, yeah he pretty much is. Still loves his polos--I mean, his hair’s the same too.”

“No way,” laughs Mike, slapping the table. “Oh my god, I totally see it!”

Beverly smiles as she raises her bottle. “ _ I  _ propose a toast!” she raises it up and so does everyone else. “To the Losers!” 

As everyone cheers, Richie gently hits Beverly, pretending to lean in for a kiss, laughing, she spits water at him, making Bill laugh. Ben elbows Mike as everyone talks excitedly, Richie reciting one of his favorite jokes. The food goes round and round as the room is filled with a sense of childhood glee, people laughing as they tell memories of the summers together and catch up on the twenty seven lost years. They missed it; wishing that they had stuck together through it all. Kept numbers or had a few parties, just anything fun. 

The waitress entered with fortune cookies, smiling to everyone as she put them down. 

“Oh, yes!”

“These are always so good, but taste oddly like a mix of cardboard and styrofoam. Does anyone else feel me?” asks Richie, laughing. Mike nods and points to him. “I mean, it still tastes awesome--it’s kind of weird?”

“Totally--you can’t wait to have one  _ because  _ the texture is like that?”

“Yeah!”

“Yeah, that’s totally it,”

Ben speaks up, catching everyone’s attention. “This is weird, right?” he laughs a little nervously. “I mean, now that we’re all here. Everything is just coming back faster and faster…? I mean, all of it!”

Richie smiles worriedly, turning the fortune cookie around in his hand. “Yeah, when Mike called me I threw up.” he chuckles a bit. “I--I got so nauseous that I… well, I fell to the ground during my show. They… they had to close the curtains and Eds and one of my directors had to practically pull me off stage.” He looks down at his hands. “Isn’t that weird? That I… that I got really nervous? I mean, I got so sick.” Everyone stares at Richie a bit. “But, I feel fine now--I feel very relieved to be here with you guys.” His nervous smile gets a little worse. “Why’s everybody looking at me like this?”

“No, I… I hear you,” Ben answers. “I mean, my heart was literally pounding right out of my chest.”

“I thought it was only me,” whispers Beverly.

“It was like pure…” Bill tries to find the word, stuttering over himself. “F...f-f-f--”

“Fear,” says Mike, looking to Bill. Bill looks back at him. “It’s fear. What you felt?”

“Well, why did we all f-f-feel that, Mike?” Mike looks back down, the other losers exchanging glances. Mike sighs and Bill leans forward to see his face. “You remember something we don’t, don’t you, Mike?”

Mike takes a deep breath. “Something happens when you leave this town,” he tells him, looking back to Bill. “The farther away, the hazier it all gets. But me, I never left… so, yeah. I remember.” Mike breathes fearfully. “I remember all of it.”

Silence spreads, Beverly looking at the table absentmindedly. “...Pennywise.”

The room seems to darken, the losers murmuring. 

“Oh, the fucking clown…” whispers Richie. “Oh, shit.”

“Pennywise, no…”

“Mike, you said you wanted our help with something, what was that?” Bill speaks up again, looking around before his eyes land on Mike again. 

“There’s an echo here in Derry,” he answers. “That bounces back every twenty seven years.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” asks Ben.

“Hold on, listen. Listen--we thought we stopped it back then. We thought it was done but--” Mike flips through a journal filled with words, making everyone worried.

“Mike,” mutters Richie, trying to push the vision of Eddie out of his mind.

“A week ago, a man, Adrian Mellon was slaughtered. A girl, Lisa Albrecht went missing just last night. There already have been others and there will be more!”

“I don’t want to hear about this shit, okay?” Richie raises his voice, silencing everyone at the table. They look to him as he closes his eyes. “Please, Mike--I mean, this is why I didn’t want Eddie to come!”

“Alright, calm down…” Ben intervenes, holding up a hand.

“More death, Richie! More pain!”

“Let’s just get another drink--”

Ben stops Bill. “Come on, Bill. Just let him explain. Let him explain!” he looks at Mike. “Explain it to us, Mike.”

He looks around as everyone goes silent once again. “That echo… we might have changed It, just like it changed us.” Richie looks to Beverly, the two seeming frightened. “But  _ we didn’t stop it _ . Because It just bounced back.” Ben looks at his hands. “We made an oath. That’s why I brought you back. That’s why you’re here. To finish It.” Mike looks around once more. “For good.”

No one speaks until Richie looks up. “Well that shit got dark fast,” he sighs. “Thanks Mike!”

Ben opens his fortune cookie, narrowing his eyes. “Well, I don’t know about you guys, but my fortune cookie sucks. It only says ‘Yet.” he holds it up and leans back in his chair. 

“Yeah, I—me too.” says Beverly. “Mine just says ‘Guess’.”

Bill sighs. “You want to throw these over here?” Beverly and Ben hand over their fortunes, Bill laying them out. “What do you have, Mikey?” Mike holds up the strip of paper with the word ‘Safe’ on it. “Mine says ‘Not, so…” Ben stands up to look, Beverly and Richie standing up. Richie took a step back, pulling out his phone.

“Wait, what?”

“Guess. Not. Safe. Yet.?” Beverly scratches her arm. “Or is it ‘Not safe yet, guess’?”

“It’s a message,” whispers Mike.

Ben looks at him. “Yeah, but what does it say? This doesn’t make a full sentence.” Richie’s hands tremble as he scrolls through his contacts. “Why would it Guess not safe yet; what does that even  _ mean? _ ”

“Did you fuck with the fortune cookies, Mike?”

“No! Let him speak!”

“This isn’t me--this is what It does!” 

Bill shoves Mike. “What is wrong with you, man? Why did you call us?!”

“This is  _ so _ not funny!”

“No, we’re missing one, aren’t we? I mean, there has to be something between the ‘guess’ and ‘not’. I mean--” Ben looked up to see the frightened Richie staring at his phone, pressing the last button.

“Richie…? What’s wrong?” asks Ben, catching the attention of the other three.

“I--I need to--I need to call E-Eddie…”

“What is it, Rich?” Beverly walks over to Richie, holds out his paper. Beverly takes it carefully, looking to the other losers. “It… It just says ‘Eddie’s’...” she whispers.

“Oh my god…”

“‘Guess Eddie’s not safe yet’…” says Bill. “What does that mean?”

Richie’s phone rings, making him freeze when he hears his own ringtone growing closer and closer. Eddie stepped in, Richie stopping the call.

“Hey, losers.” says Eddie, Richie drops his phone, making everyone flinch. “Hey, Rich.”

“What are you doing here?” asks Richie, moving forward. “I told you to stay home-- _ what the fuck are you doing here _ ?”

Eddie glares at Richie, pointing a finger in his face. “You know damn well why, despite your best efforts. I’m not just letting you come here alone because it’s  _ dangerous _ . I’m not going to listen to the shit after you locked me in our goddamn apartment!”

“Because it’s going to kill you! Don’t you understand this?! I’m protecting you!”

“Protect me from what?!”

“It! The clown! The clown that almost ate you! The clown that broke your arm! The fucking clown that took me into those damn sewers and--”

The table moves, everyone looking back to it. Mike flinches and moves away, Eddie glancing at Richie. The fortune cookies begin to move, shaking and shivering as Richie takes a step closer, everyone retreating backwards. “Holy shit,” breathes Ben. 

One jumps out of the bowl, making Beverly shout in fear. The losers move back, Richie flinching. Something broke through the cookie, Eddie covering his mouth. 

“What the fuck is that--?” Richie begins before it cracks out, a spider like monster crawling out of the cookie. 

“Oh my god,”

Wings like a beetle's appear and it cried like an infant, Bill backing up against the wall. “Woah, woah--” It scurries around the table to Mike, who gets out of his chair and moves. Three more hop out, Richie stumbling backwards.

“Shit.” An eye with tentacles breaks out and looks to Richie, sliding across the table. “Hey--hey! That fortune cookie’s looking at me! Shit!” The scurrying creature moves for Richie, who runs to the side. “Eddie, this is why I wanted you to go home--!”

“Holy, shit!” cries Eddie, backing up against the wall. The third cookie hatches with wings, shooting towards Eddie. He ducks it, the creature shrieking at him. 

“Eddie, Eddie!” Richie cries, Beverly trying to smack it away.

“Richie, what the fuck?!”

The bowl of fortune cookies start to ooze a horrible black acid-like liquid that seeped onto the table, sizzling like lava. It burned away the message from the fortunes, Richie running to Eddie’s side, swinging his jacket to smack the creature away. 

Bill looked to the fish tank and screamed. “Woah, fuck!” he cries as he sees decapitated heads floating in the water. 

“It’s not real!” cried Mike, picking up a chair to hit the table with it. Richie held Eddie close, Eddie closing his eyes as Richie stared in fear. Mike continued to shout the same phrase as he slammed the chair on the table. “It’s not real! It’s not real!” The waitress walked in and flinched, looking around. “It’s not--”

“Is everything all right?” she asks, everyone turning to her. Richie continues to shield Eddie, who finally looked back up.

“Yeah,” he lies. “Yeah, could we get the check? Thanks.” The waitress slowly turns around and walks back out. Richie lets go of Eddie, tilting his head back as he sighs.

“What the fuck was that?”

“It,” answers Mike.

***

“You lied to us,” says Bill, pointing to Mike. “What the hell?”

“Yeah, the first words out of your mouth should have been like ‘Hey man! You wanna come to Derry and get murdered?’ Because then I would have really said no.” Richie says, turning around to Eddie. “I told you to stay home because this, okay? I didn’t want to bring you because you’re in danger.” 

“Richie, if this is the shit we’re up against, I’m not going to leave you here. If I’m going home, you are too.”

“Well guess what, you don’t have to worry because I am.”

“This is the one time I admit you’re right, but--you’re the one who’s going to buy the new key.”

“We share the same bank account; does it matter?”

Mike catches everyone’s attention, holding up his book. “Guys, we can stop it! I have a plan!”

“I’ve got a plan,” Richie interrupts. “Getting the fuck out of Derry before this ends worse then one of Bills’ books!” He holds up his hand. “Who’s with me?” Eddie holds up his hand and Mike puts his hand on Richie’s shoulder.

“We made a promise to each other!”

“Then let’s just un-make the promise!”

Ben shakes his head. “Richie, other people are going to die.”

“Other people die every day, man! We don’t owe this town shit! I just remembered I grew up here like, two hours ago and I’d prefer that people die naturally instead of all the deaths I keep--!” Richie catches himself and freezes up, taking a shaky breath.

“What?”

“It’s nothing,” Richie grabs Eddie by the hand and starts dragging him to the car. 

***

“Let’s get our shit and get the  _ fuck  _ out of here,” seethes Richie, Eddie following close behind. 

“Did you leave your stuff here too, Ben?”

“No, my stuff’s still in the car--” 

Eddie follows Richie up the stairs, trying to grab his arm. “Richie, slow down for a second. You almost said something in the parking lot. I thought it was only me who you saw die?”

“Please just get your things, Eds. I’m not in any mood to dwell on my nightmares right now.” Richie grabs his bag and starts to run downstairs, leaving Eddie in the hall. As he made his way down, he dropped his bag and joined Beverly behind the bar, picking up a bottle of a strong liquor. Ripping out the cork, he tipped it upwards and took a drink. Beverly and Ben stared at him. He slammed the bottle down on the counter. “Eduardo! Andale, let’s go!”

Eddie struggles down the stairs as he pulls his bag down, rushing after Richie. “Richie, talk to me!” he drops his bag and walks up to Richie, the bar separating the two. “Who else? Who else have you seen  _ die _ ?”

“Wait, what?” Ben looks to Richie, who keeps his eyes trained to the bar top and he takes another drink.

“What does he mean, Richie?”

“Just shut up you guys!” Richie practically shouts, he meets eyes with the pleading Eddie, sighing. “I just…”

Eddie stares at Richie. “It’s okay, Rich. We’re your best friends. You know you can trust us,” he tells him quietly. 

Richie looks back at the bartop. “Everyone, Eds. I… I’ve seen  _ everyone  _ die.”

“What?”

“Wait, what do you mean you’ve ‘seen us all die’?” presses Eddie, Beverly and Ben exchanging glances. “Is there a… is Pennywise going to kill us all?”

“Yeah, because I’ve got to be honest, Richie,” Beverly nods. “That’s a fucked up thing to just  _ drop  _ on somebody.”

Richie shakes his head, taking another drink. “Every night since… Since we fought It I’ve been having this dream, and I couldn’t figure out what it meant, but…” He runs a hand through his hair, Ben looking to Bev. “Eddie and Stan were the only ones to die directly at Pennywise’s hand, but…” Richie shakes his head. “I’ve seen every single one of us…”

“Seen every single one of us what?” asks Bill, the four in the bar turning to see Bill and Mike walk in.

Richie stares in fear, Bill looking worried. “Die.” he mutters. “That’s how it ends,”

“Okay, well how come the rest of us aren’t seeing this? What makes him so different?”

Eddie covers his mouth. “When It took you,” he mutters. Everyone looks to Richie.

“The Deadlights.”

“You mean when he was floating?” asks Bill. “He was the only one that got caught in the deadlights that day,”

Eddie staggers back and keeps his hand pressed over his mouth. “Oh my god, it… it looked like you were dead,” Richie holds Eddie from falling over.

“We were all touched by It,” says Mike. “Changed. Deep down like an infection--or a virus! A virus; you understand! Slowly growing, the virus has been growing for twenty seven years.” Mike looks at Richie. “They’re getting worse, aren’t they? The dreams?” Richie nods. “It’s going for Stan and Eddie first because--”

“He’s already hurt them.” Beverly finishes.

“And it’ll go for the rest of us if it hurts us too.” continues Mike.

“Wait, wait, it’s focusing on Stan and I because  _ why? _ ” Richie looks to Eddie, who seems to be panicked, looking for answers.

“Stan almost got his face bitten off. It damaged all around his face, he had to wear bandages for a month and you broke your arm in the Neibolt house.” Richie mutters.

“What Richie sees will come to pass,” warns Mike. “The reason our deaths aren’t like Eddie or Stan’s is because that is what will happen if we  _ don’t  _ do this!”

“And how are we supposed to do that?” asks Ben, scoffing.

Mike nods, looking around. “The Ritual of Chud,” Richie raises an eyebrow and Beverly scrunches her face in confusion. “The Shokopiwah. The first ones who fought It, they have a saying: All living things must abide by the laws of the shape they inhabit.”

“A tribal ritual?” exclaims Richie. “Mike, are you fucking kidding me, man? I’ve seen this shit for more than half my life and the only answer you’ve got to save our lives is a fucking tribal rital?!” Richie shakes his head, moving back to the bottle. He unscrews the cap. “There’s got to be another way. If this thing comes back every twenty seven years, then let's just kick the can down the road and do it then!”

Eddie swipes the bottle from Richie and takes the cap too. “Wait, we’ll be seventy years old, asshole!” he cries.

“It doesn’t work that way, Richie. You know it.” Mike makes Richie look down again.

“What does he mean…?”

Richie wipes his face with his hands. “None of us make it another twenty years if… if we don’t do this.” Everyone mutters amongst themselves, Ben covering his mouth.

“Can I have some whiskey, Rich?”

“Wait, and you were just going to  _ not tell us _ ?”

“Well, I don’t know anymore, okay?! I’ve been seeing the same thing for so many years that sometimes I think I should be in a mental hospital! ‘Save us, Richie! Come float with us, Richie! Come home, Richie!’ No! If I have that damn dream one more time I’ll bash that damn clown’s head in!”

“So if we don’t beat It… This cycle… Then we all die?”

“Horribly.” nods Eddie.

“We really don’t need the ‘horribly’ part, Eds.” mutters Richie. 

Eddie waves his hand, closing his eyes. “You’re the one who said it, Rich. Not me.”

“A-a-alright, guys… Look. I’ve seen w-w-what M-Mike’s talking about, and it’s all true.” Bill looks to the losers, who try to make as little eye contact as possible. “It’s the only way, and if we want this ritual to work…”

“We have to remember.”

Everyone looks to Mike, Richie grabbing a whiskey off the shelf for him and Ben. “Remember  _ what _ ?” he asks. Mike nods as he starts to walk towards the door.

“It’s better if I show you.” Exchanging glances, one by one the losers follow Mike into the empty streets of Derry. “We don’t have much time, because It’s cycle will end soon. And once it does,”

“We’re fucked,” says Eddie.”

Down through the prairie, they followed along, under the train tracks growing closer to the forest. Richie looked around, starting to recognize it as not only the place where they would all play, but where he would meet the clown in his dreams. Richie shuddered, walking a bit faster to keep up with Eddie. 

As they passed the stream from the sewers, Eddie rolled up his pants as he crossed, the losers hopping from stone to stone. They entered the forest and Ben smiles excitedly, Beverly looking around.

“The Barrens,” she said.

“This is where we came!” laughs Ben, smiling at the memory. “After the rock fight!”

Eddie laughs, looking at Richie. “Remember when you shouted ‘Rock War’ and got nailed in the face?”

Richie turns red, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. All I remember is saving your ass from getting a rock chucked at you by Vic.” Bill laughs, Ben elbowing Beverly.

“You threw the first rock and hit Bowers, didn’t you?” Beverly smiles and nods. “God, that summer was one of the best, minus the clown part, of course.” Eddie grins and Bill chuckles.

“Holy shit--the clubhouse!” Richie beams, pointing as he walks forward. “The hatch has got to be around here someplace, it shouldn’t be that hard to find, should it?”

“You know I think the door was more around like…” Ben taps his foot on the ground as the losers search. Suddenly, the floor gives way and Ben falls inside, everyone turning to stare. “...Found it! I’m okay, come down!” he calls, Beverly running in first to go down the hatch.

_ Ben wiped his hands on his shirt, smiling nervously as she looked around. Richie jumped down second and then Bill.  _

_ Fixing his glasses, Richie scrunched up his face. “What the dick is this? How’d you build it?” _

_ “When did you build it?” questions Bill. _

_ Eddie, in his red track shorts, came down the steps and looked around. Ben shrugged, a big smile on his face. “Here and there, I guess. It was already dug out for something, so I just had to reinforce the walls and get some wood for the roof door and that’s pretty much it!” Stanley looks around as he comes down, Mike the last one to enter. “Pretty good for my first time, huh?” _

_ Leaning on a post, a part of the roof falls down, making the kids flinch. Richie snorts.  _

_ “Now  _ that’s  _ a cool feature! What happens when you put your hand on the other pillar, professor?” _

_ Eddie paces around the clubhouse. “Okay, you see this is  _ exactly  _ why we have safety codes!” he slaps his hand in the other. “Why we have permits!” he stops to look at Ben. “This place is a death trap. Do you understand that?” _

_ “It… Well, it’s a work in progress, okay Eddie?” _

_ “Just so you know, if I get hurt, you are liable. And also what is this?” he turns around to point at something. “The switch of an iron maiden?” _

_ “That’s a flashlight,” _

_ “What is that, a horse hitch? When do you have horses down here--” he bends down and picks up a toy. “Oh, this is cool.” _

_ “It was like, three dollars, so please be careful…” _

_ “Hey, Stan! Have you ever seen this?”  _

_ Eddie bounces the ball on the paddle at Stanley’s face. “Can you maybe not?” _

_ “Maybe not what? Yeah, yeah, hold on. Maybe not what? Be fun and be magical and celebrate the magic of the paddle ball!” Stan smacks it from Eddie’s hand, breaking the ball off the string. Oh, good going, fucknut. You broke his thing!” Stanley looks up to Eddie. _

_ “I broke it?” _

_ “Yeah, you broke it with your face.” Stanley sticks his tongue out at Eddie. “I’m not putting my fucking hand down there!” _

Eddie reached down and picked it up, blowing the dust off of it. “Oh, man. That’s so cool…” Ben smiles as Eddie looks to him, laughing. “Still here, after twenty seven years!” he laughs. “How did we not remember all this stuff down here--?”

“ _ Hey losers, _ ” the losers look up to the darkness, Eddie stumbling back. “Time to float!” Mike raises a baseball bat and Ben falls back into a chair. Richie stumbles out of the darkness, laughing mockingly. Bill hits his head.

“Fuck, Richie!” 

“Dude!”

“Remember when he used to say that shit? And he’d do that little dance.” Richie mocks the dance and sinks fakely, none of the others laughing. “Am I the only one who remembers this shit?”

“Are you going to be like this the entire tie we’re home?” asks Eddie, glaring at Richie. He shrugs. 

“All right. Just trying to add some levity to this shit. Guess I’ll go fuck myself.” He whistles as he moves along. Bill picks up a can, a note written on the front that says ‘For use of the losers only. -Stan’.

“Hey, guys.” he shows the can with a smile, opening it up. He reaches in.

_ Stan pulls out a shower cap, holding it out to Richie who sits in the hammock reading comics. Music plays as Richie takes it, looking up to Stanley. “The fuck is this?” _

_ “So you don’t get spiders stuck in your hair when you’re down here.” _

_ “Stanley, we’re not afriad of fucking spiders.” Richie putsit next to him and Stan rolls his eyes, walking off. Richie looks up to see all the other losers wearing the caps, making him sigh. “I stand corrected.” _

_ Beverly laughs and Eddie pulls off the shower cap quickly, turning pink. “That’s a first,” she tells him.  _

_ Richie nods. “Touche,” _

_ Walking up, Eddie puts his hands on his hips as he glares down at Richie. “Okay, Rich. Your ten minutes are up!” Richie looks up in a fake innocent confusion. _

_ “What are you talking about?” _

_ “The hammock! Ten minutes each was the rule!” _

_ Richie looks around to mess with Eddie. “I don’t see any sign,” _

_ Eddie huffs, shaking his head. “Are you being this way right now? No, no, no, no. Why would there be a sign if it was a verbal agreement?!” Mike sits down on a swing, smirking as he looks at the two arguing. “And I remember you agreeing on the fucking rule!” _

_ “What do you mean?! This is bullshit--why are you next?!” Eddie sits in the hammock and kicks Richie out of the way. Stanley rolls his eyes. “I can see your vagina!” Richie mocks.  _

_ “Ten minutes each!”  _

_ “Go back to your dumb little corner--I fucked your mom!” _

_ “No, you didn’t,” cries Eddie. “Take that back!” They continue to argue, but the fire starts to die down before they calm down. Richie huffs and looks to Ben, who starts talking about studying abroad. _

_ “I’ll do that,” he agrees. “I’ll do anything to get the hell out of Derry!” Eddie pushes his foot in Richie’s face, who hits it away with his arm.  _

_ Mike smiles. “Man, when I graduate, I’m going to Florida.” he dreams, Richie laughing a bit as he messes with Eddie. _

_ “What’s in Florida, Mike?” smiles Ben. _

_ “I don’t know… It’s just a place I’ve always wanted to go.” _

_ Richie looks to Stan as he holds Eddie’s leg resting on his shoulder still so Eddie doesn’t kick him. “Stan, you should totally go with Mike to Florida,” Stan looks at him and Richie smiles. “Since you already act eighty, you’d clean up with all the grandmas.” He makes a kissing sound and the losers laugh, Mike shaking his head as he smiles.  _

_ “Do you guys think we’ll still be friends?” Stan inquires, looking around. “When we’re older?” _

_ “What?” Richie laughs a bit. “Why wouldn’t we be?” he glances to Eddie. _

_ “Do any of your parents still hang out with their friends from school?” Eddie pulls off Richie’s glasses with his other foot, giggling to himself. “I mean, things might be different then.” Richie glares daggers at Eddie, who taps his face with his foot. “We all might be different…” _

_ “W-w-we’ll always still be friends,” Bill reassures Stanley. “I don’t think that just, you know, i-i-it g-goes away because we get older.  _

_ “Yeah, Stan.” smiles Beverly. “You don’t have to be so…” _

“...Sad,” finishes the older Beverly, sighing.

Ben looks a little guilty. “Now I feel really bad about forgetting about Derry…” he chuckles a bit.

“Yeah,” smiles Eddie. “Do you think we could still fit in the hammock?” he grins, looking to Richie.

“Probably not, but I’d be willing to try if you promised not to kick my glasses off,” Richie smirks at Eddie and pushes him, the two fighting to get in the hammock. Bill smiles as they hit each other, yelling to fight for space. It was tricky, but by some miracle, they still fit. “Man, I’ve never had this little space before, we’ve definitely grown--” Eddie laughs and Richie looks to the other losers proudly. “We still fit, though! Holy shit, I thought for sure it was gonna--”

The hammock snaps and Eddie screams and they hit the ground. Boverly covers her mouth and starts laughing, Mike shaking his head as he smiles. They all laugh, Eddie pushing his foot to Richie’s face. 

“Wow, great going, trashmouth!”

“Oh, shut up it was totally your fault!”

“Alright, you two,” Ben waves them down. “What are we doing here, Mike?” Mike stands back up, clearing his throat.

“The ritual.” he answers. “To perform it requires a sacrifice.”

“Sacrifice? Richie points to Eddie. “I nominate Eddie.” Eddie looks at him.

“Wait, what?”

“Well, you’re little… you’ll fit on a barbecue.”

Eddie shakes his head. “I’m five-nine. It’s like, average height in most of the world.”

“It’s not that kind of sacrifice, guys.” Bill interrupts. 

Mike crosses his arms. “The past is buried,” Eddie and Richie get up off the floor to join the losers. “But you’re gonna have to dig it up piece by piece. Each of you has forgotten one crucial defining detail that Pennywise has erased from your minds. That’s why we’re here. They are what you’ll sacrifice. Since Stan isn’t here to find his, I figured we should all be here together to find his artifact.”

Eddie puts on a shower cap. “I think Bill just did that,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y’all I might add an angsty alternate ending chapter for all of u sad bois out there comment if you want it


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK MY GAY HEART IS HAVING AN PANIC ATTACK THIS IS SO CUTE SOMEONE CALL THE PARAMEDICS IM GONNA DIE FROM IT 
> 
> ALSO HOLY SHIT TWO IN ONE DAY I AM IN A ROLL

##  Chapter Eight

“Okay, Mike, so where do we find our tokens?” Eddie asks, fiddling with the shower cap. Richie scratches at his head, slightly worried that there were spiders in his hair.

“Yeah, I gotta be honest, man, All due respect this is fucking stupid, alright?” Richie shrugs his shoulders. “Why do we need tokens, all right? We already remember everything! Going into the Well House, saving me, defeating It… I mean, we’re caught up!”

“That’s not everything. We fought, yes, but what happened after that? What happened after Eddie broke his arm?” Everyone seems to falter, trying to wrack their brains. “Before we went to the house? Think.” Bill looks to Richie, then Mike.

“W-w-we c-can’t remember, can we? Something important to us?”

“See, there’s more to us.” Mike points down. “What happened to us that summer. Whether it be secrets, relationships, family, realization…” Richie scratches the side of his face nervously. “They’re like pages torn out of a book, and that’s what you need to find.” Bill stands up, sighing. “We need to split up, because you each need to find your artifact alone. Your memories will take care of themselves after that.”

“Yeah, I gotta say,” Eddie intervenes. “Statistically speaking--? If you look at survival scenarios, we’re gonna do much better as a group.”

“I agree with Eds. Splitting up would be dumb, man.” Eddie nods as he points to Richie. “Okay, we’ve gotta go together. All right? We were together that summer! That’s how we met!”

“No,” Bill shakes his head, making Richie turn. “Not that w-whole s-s-summer…”

_ “No, take it back. You're scared and we all are, but take it back!” Pushing Richie back, the dark-haired boy pushed back, only for Bill to land a fist right in his face. _

_ “Bill!” _

_ “You're just a bunch of losers! Fuck off!” shouts Richie, Stanley and Mike holding him back from Bill. “Guys, stop!” _

_ “You're just a bunch of losers and you'll get yourselves killed trying to catch a fucking stupid clown!” Richie continues. Ben holds Bill back, tears streaming down Richie's face. _

_ “Stop! This is what It wants! It wants to divide us. We were all together when we hurt It. That’s why we're still alive!” Beverly scolds. _

_ “Look around. We’re not all together anymore, and I plan to keep the staying alive thing the way it is now.”  _

Richie stands on the street corner of where it happened. Where Eddie was ripped away from him for the first time in his life. He could still remember how it felt. The panic, the dread, feeling as if he would never see Eddie again.

Richie looks around and starts to walk towards the downtown. It wasn’t until August, if his memory held right, that he saw his Eds again. It was hazy for him to remember, but he was on his bike, on his way to see if maybe Eddie was home. As Richie walked down the street, he passed Dr. Keene’s Pharmacy.

_ “Suck the wound! Get in there!” _

_ “Oh my god, you tricked me into getting your inhaler with you? That thing tastes like battery acid.” _

_ “You know, I don’t think Mr. Keene likes it when I’m with you. But neither does your mom so it’s not saying much.” _

_ “Eds, I can’t see shit, man.” _

Richie stopped, looking to the front door of the Pharmacy.  _ That’s  _ where they met again. Eddie had been coming out of the store, only for Richie to ram him with his bike. After that, they planned to go out to the arcade together. The first time Eddie offered to go.

The arcade.

Richie had locked himself in the arcade that whole time, so he decided that would be a good place to start. He started down the familiar road and reached the arcade that was right next to the theatre. Richie reached his hand through the broken window and pulled it open. The door shut behind him.

It was a bit dark from the lack of sunlight and glow from the game screens. Trash was littered across the floor, but then again it always seemed to be like that. As he walked in and stopped at the Street Fighter console, he stared at it’s graffiti-tagged screen, it’s joysticks and buttons covered in cobwebs and dust. Richie turned and dug a quarter out of his pocket, putting it in the token machine. The movement wasn’t even thought about, but natural instead. 

As the token fell into the tray, Richie pulled it out with his index finger and stared at it before slowly looking back to his second favorite thing in the world.

“ _ Come on, you! Come on!” he cries with a smile, moving the joystick as he mashed the button. He looked over at the boy he was playing with; giving him a mocking smile. He snickers. _

_ “Ken, you little bitch--” seethes Connor, Richie hitting the final blow. _

_ “Yes!” laughs Richie, the two pulling away from the arcade machine.  _

_ Connor smiled in defeat as he shook his head. “You’re fucking good,” he sighs. The electronic voice of ‘Game over’ sounding as they high-fived. “Ah, well… I gotta go.” _

_ Richie’s smile faded, kind of sad that he was left alone again. “Well, hey--” he grabs a token. “How about we go again? Play some more, you know?”Richie shrugs. “Only if you want to,” Connor looks back to see Henry Bowers raising an eyebrow as he smirks. _

_ Turning back to Richie, his face changes. “Dude, why are you being weird? I’m not your fucking boyfriend,” Richie takes a step back in shock, his heart dropping.  _

_ “Woah, I--I didn’t--” _

_ “What the fuck’s going on here?” Henry’s voice catches the room, making Richie feel even worse than before. “You assholes didn’t tell me that your town is full of little fairies,” Connor accuses, looking from Henry to Richie. _

_ “Richie fucking Tozier?” asks Henry, walking forward. Richie backs up, feeling sick to his stomach. “What? You trying to bone my little cousin?” Richie couldn’t find words to defend himself, stepping back again. “Get the fuck out of here, you faggot!” shouts Henry, making Richie flinch. He stumbled backwards and Henry stomped his foot. “Fucking move!”  _

_ Richie turned around and ran off, trying to keep himself from crying as he ran as fast as he could out to the park, sitting on the bench in front of the statue. He cried to himself. _

_ “Want a kiss, Richie?” Richie’s head snapped up and he pulled on his glasses, looking up to see that there was no statue in front of him. There was a rustle in the bushes and Richie turned to see a horrifying version of the statue scream in his face. He stumbled back and screamed, jumping out of the way as it destroyed the park bench.  _

_ He got to his feet and ran away as the statue swiped at him, destroying the gazebo and tearing up grass. He tripped as the statue almost caught his shoe, cowering as he covered his head. _

_ “It’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real!” When nothing came to hurt him, Richie fumbled with his glasses and put them back on, sighing as the statue had returned back to normal, laying on the grass. _

Richie stared at the door, then looking back to the token in his hand when something else caught his eye. 

Looking down to the ground was an envelope peeking out from underneath the Street Fighter mahine. It was stuck pretty good when Richie tried to grab it, so he pushed the machine up and grabbed the envelope. The paper was yellow-ish, old, and covered in dust. When Richie turned it around in his hands, he was shocked to see his name written on the front in a very neat cursive, probably written with a blue pen. The handwriting was incredibly familiar to Richie, making him turn red as he finally remembered who’s writing it was. 

“Eddie?” he whispers, tearing it open. Richie is about to pull out the letter from the envelope when he froze at the sound of a familiar voice.

“Richie,” calls a young voice, making Richie turn around slowly. He stumbles backwards and almost falls to the ground as he sees Eddie from 1989, cast and all, standing by the door with a smile on his face. “Can’t catch me, trashmouth,” he teases with a laugh, making a face at Richie. He runs out of the arcade and Richie hesitates before following. Eddie waves him on, snickering. “Come on, you slowpoke!”

As Eddie starts into a run, Richie chases after, seeming like himself again. “Eds, wait!” he says, following after. He makes it into the park with the statue and stops, looking around for Eddie, who’s nowhere to be found.

“The festival closes tonight!” says a man, shoving a flyer into Richie’s hands. He glances back with a deformed, zombie like face. “Hope to see you there,” He throws the papers over his shoulder and keeps walking, Richie looking down to the flyer as he stuffs the letter in his pocket.

_ In Loving Memory of Richard Tozier _

Richie’s eyes widen in fear as he reads the words over and over again. “Did you miss me, Richie?” cries a voice, Richie looking up to see Pennywise sitting on the statue’s shoulder, a triangle of balloons held in its hand to mock him. Richie steps back. “Cause I’ve missed you! I visited you all the time in your dreams, but you never said hello! No one wants to play with the clown anymore…” Pennywise grins. 

“Fuck--”

“Play a game with me, would ya? How about Street Fighter?” It tilts its head. “Oh, yes you like that one, don’t you? Or maybe… Truth or Dare?” Floating in the air, Pennywise floats to the frozen in fear Richie. “Oh, but you wouldn’t want anyone to pick ‘truth’ though, would you, Richie? You wouldn’t want anyone to know what you’re hiding.” Pennywise laughs as Richie starts to move back. It starts to sing.

“ _ I know your secret,  _

_ Your dirty little secret! _

_ Oh, I know your secret,  _

_ Your dirty, dirty secret!” _

Pennywise grins maliciously at Richie. “Should I tell them, Richie?” he asks. 

Richie closes his eyes. “This isn’t happening! This isn’t real! It isn’t happening and it isn’t real.” Taking a deep breath he opens his eyes to see Pennywise scream in his face. Richie shrieks as he runs off, sprinting down the street and back to the inn.

Richie walks down the street as he takes a deep breath, staring at the floats going by in the streets. Walking into a large bunch of balloons, Eddie jumps back, looking as they walk away. “Asshole!” He just sighs and runs across the street to open the door to the pharmacy. He walks up to the counter and looks behind. “Hello--?” he freezes as he sees an old man walking out of the back room. The old man notices Eddie and walks up.

“Can I help you?” he rasps. 

“Yeah, I had a… I had a prescription called in for Kaspbrak.” the old man looks at Eddie.

“Kaspbrak?”

“It’s… an inhaler.”

“Eddie Kaspbrak?”

Eddie nods uncomfortably. “Mm-hm, that’s me.” he mutters. 

“I remember you…” he tells him. “How’s your mom?”

Clearing his throat, Eddie avoids eye contact. “She actually… died a few years ago. It’s very sad. It was--it was from liver cancer--”

“What’s that?” asks Dr. Keene. Eddie stops.

“What’s--what?”

“That.” Dr. Keene pinches a spot on Eddie’s face. “Huh, well… It might  _ not  _ be cancer.” Eddie’s eyes widen in fear. “But it might be. You stay here, I’ll go get you something. Eddie watches as Dr. Keene disappears into the back room.

_ “You came here for your stinky breath pills?” Eddie flinches as he looks to Gretta Keene reading her magazine. _

_ “My… my breath is--fine, thank you.” _

_ “That’s not what my dad said,” she shrugs, grabbing something to her left. “He said you have a tumor.” Gretta narrows her eyes as she puts Eddie’s prescription down. “On your dick,” _

_ Eddie laughs nervously. “But you don’t take pills for…” Gretta stares at him, his laugh dying. “Wait, what did your dad say?” _

_ “Here’s your shit,” she says, motioning to the bag in front of him. He takes it. “Hope your dick feels better.” Eddie shifts uncomfortably and starts to walk away after giving her a thanks. _

_ “Thank you,” he mutters. “For the inhaler, not the--penis thing…” _

_ As Eddie starts to walk off, he hears someone call his name, making him freeze. He takes a deep breath but keeps walking until he hears it again. Looking to the door of the pharmacy’s basement, he takes a careful step towards it. “M...mommy?” he whispers. _

_ “Eddie Bear!” cries his mother a third time, making him walk through the door. He bumps his arm on a basket and nearly screams, before realizing it wasn’t going to kill him. _

_ “Mommy?” _

_ “Eddie, come help me! Quick!”  _

_ Eddie starts to walk down the stairs but gags at the smell, ripping open the bag to retrieve his inhaler. Taking a deep breath, he regained himself, stumbling down the stairs. “Mommy?” _

_ “Eddie!” gasps Mrs. K. “Eddie, come help me! Help me, quick!” Eddie starts to walk forward, shuddering as he walks past a container full of used syringes. “Eddie, help me please!” Glass crunches under his feet and he looks down to see broken syringes on the floor. He screams, bumping into an IV that swings down towards him. Shrieking as he falls over, he jumps to his feet and gets away from the medical supplies.  _

_ “Eddie?” _

_ “The fuck is she doing here?” he whispers to himself, walking over to the drawn curtain.  _

_ “What is taking you so long?!” she demands. _

_ “I-I-I don’t know. Why are you here?” slowly reaching up, Eddie slightly closes his eyes as he pulls the curtains back to see his mother strapped to a surgery table. “Mommy!” _

_ “He’s coming! You gotta get me out of here!” Eddie fumbles with the restraints, unable to get them off with his cast. _

_ “Who’s coming?” _

_ A chain rattles in the darkness, making Eddie stop, looking to where the noise came from. “What the fuck is that?” The room is silent except for the lights humming above them. The sound of the chain rattles even more violently. He gasps in fear as his mother shouts at him. _

_ “You gotta get me out of here! He’s gonna kill me!” Eddie doesn’t move as a clothed figure stumbles forward, Mrs. K screaming demands. As it gets stuck, Eddie tries to get off the restraints, panicking as he failed miserably. “Hurry, Eddie! Go!” It growls as it snaps past where it was stuck, continuing to run at the. Eddie shrieks. He gets one off and moves to the other, barely breathing as hir howls and roars.  _

_ When it gets stuck again, Eddie flinches, the thing tugging until the chain snaps off, the cloth falling off to reveal a disgusting leper. Eddie screams as loud as he can. He looks to his mother, crying as he screams/ “I can’t do it!” he shouts, moving back. “I’m sorry, I can’t!” _

_ “I knew you would leave me, Eddie!” she cries in disgust, Eddie sprinting out of the basement as the leper grabbed Mrs. K. _

Eddie took a shaky breath, looking around. “What’s all this shit going here?” he mutters to himself. “Why is there still a curtain here?” Eddie shakes his hands. “Okay. You can do this, Eds. It’s just a memory. It’s just a memory, you’re fine. Deep breath, deep breath.” He stops at the curtains, wincing. “Okay. You gonna do it?” 

Closing his eyes, Eddie reached to the curtains and pulled them apart. When he opened his eyes, there was nothing there. Turning around, the leper grabbed his shoulder, the both of them screaming loudly. “Shit! Shit! Oh, fuck! Get away from me!” It grabbed him and pushed him into a wall, snarining like an animal. Trying his best to push it away, Eddie continued to scream. 

Eddie choked the leper, which started to gasp for air and he pushed it backwards, shouting at it. “THAT’S RIGHT!” he yells. “FUCK YOU!”

The leper puked. It covered Eddie’s face and hands, dripping onto his clothes. Screaming, he looked up to see the leper gone. Eddie looks from left to right, unable to fathom words.

Instead, he shouted in confusion sprinting out of the basement and out of the pharmacy. As he reached the inn, he muttered to himself as Beverly walked down the stairs, covering her mouth.

“Oh my god, what the fuck happened to you?” she moved out of the way as Eddie walked swiftly past her and up the stairs. 

“I’m fine. It’s fine. Everything’s fine.” He slipped into his room then entered the bathroom, turning on the faucet to wash his face as he debated whether or not to take a shower now or in when everyone returned.

Richie opened the back door to his room, looking around. “Fuck,” he says. Turning, he sees the steps down. “Oh!” Richie got in the car and threw his duffle bag and Eddie’s suitcase in, Starting up the car. He dials Eddie’s number as he drives off to go look for him.

“Oh! And then that leper! He threw up all over me,” Eddie rants, wiping off his face. “‘Hey! It’s Mike Hanlon! Why don’t you come back to Derry?” as Richie wipes his face, he looks up to the mirror to push it back to see if he’d gotten it all off his face. He freezes as Henry Bowers stares at him from the mirror. 

“It’s your time, Eddie.” Slamming his knife into the side of Eddie’s face, Eddie spins around, screaming as he looks at Henry laughing at him. 

“What?! W-Why?!” Eddie can barely speak clearly as he tries not to move his mouth much. “Why did you do that?!” 

Henry’s laughing like a maniac as he steps towards Eddie, cornering towards the shower. “Because he says it’s your time!” he manages through his laughter. Eddie laughs nervously. 

“Who says it’s my time?” The two laugh as Eddie steps in the shower. Henry stops smiling.

“You know, Eddie. You know.” Eddie whimpers. “Time to float.” As Helry starts laughing again, the blood seeping from Eddie’s face drips onto the floor. Eddie joins the laughter again, looking around awkwardly. Eddie draws the curtain shut. “Where’d he go?” Henry reaches to the curtain. “Now  _ give me back my fucking knife! _ ” Eddie stabs Henry through the shower curtain, hitting him right in the stomach. 

As Henry staggers back, he pulls off the curtain, revealing Eddie, staring awkwardly. As he steps out of the shower and presses himself against the wall, he staggers out of the bathroom, his hand still held up as if the knife was in his hand.

“You should cut that fucking mullet. It’s been like thirty years, man.” as he slips out of his room, he screams. “Guys!” he calls. Beverly runs up the stairs as Ben follows. 

“Eds?!” she shouts, screaming as she sees Eddie sinking to the floor. 

Ben’s eyes go wide. “Jesus, Eds! What the hell?!”

“Bowers is in my room,” he manages, blood spilling from his mouth as he opens it. He tries to keep it from dripping on his polo shirt. Glass shatters and Ben runs into the room as Bev sits with Eddie, wincing. “Is it bad?”

“No,” says Beverly, shaking her head. She pinches the wound to try and close it. 

Eddie mutters to himself. When his phone goes off, Eddie looks to it. “Oh, look at that…” he mumbles, reading the caller ID. “Richie’s calling me.” he laughs a bit. “I probably shouldn’t answer, don’t want him to freak out, right now.” Beverly helps Eddie up, taking him down the stairs to patch his face. “I don’t want to get blood on my phone anyway. He did take my stuff--are we leaving? I’d like to leave.”

“No, no, no, it’s--it’s okay, you’re just in shock. We’ll get Ben to--Ben!  _ Ben! _ ” Ben runs down the stairs and looks at Eddie, who slightly turns his head to look at him. Beverly pushes Eddie’s hand down so it’s not sticking out. “Oh my god, it’s a little bad. I think you should call Richie.”

“Wait, but--no, he’s gonna go crazy. I don’t want to worry him.”

Richie looks at his phone. “Fuck, fuck, fuck… Come on, Eds. Come on, man.” He throws his phone on the dash. “I should go back there. I left them in a lurch, man. I should go back. Eddie might be there already.” He shakes his head. “What the fuck am I talking about, he’s picking up his inhaler--fuck that. Fuck them. I’ve gotta start planning the show, man. I don’t have time for this shit--” Richie slams on the brakes as someone walks out in the street, not paying attention. “FUCK!” Richie slams his head on the wheel, rubbing his face. “Shit, what the fuck--?” 

Richie’s eyes widen as he looks at Stanley staring up at him, Richie stumbling out of the car. 

“Richie! Where is everyone?”

“Stanley, what the fuck, man?! What are you doing here?! Why aren’t you in the hospital?!” 

“I got out early,” Stanley looks Richie up and down, giving him a smile. “I’m here to help. I’m here to help kill Pennywise. For good.” Staring back in confusion, Richie starts to shake his head. 

“No, no, no.” Richie continues to shake his head. “No, that--no, I’m getting Eddie and geting the fuck out of here. No, we’re not fighting that bastard.”

“What?” Stanley narrows his eyes. “Wait, did you and Eddie get married?”

“What? No, no--that’s not--that’s not the topic, you’re changing the topic. You need to go the fuck home while you can. This town is trying to kill us all.”

“I’m sorry, are you trying to tell me that nothing has changed since we left?” Richie smirks a bit. “Before you take me back to the inn to see everyone, we’ve got to stop at the library. I borrowed a book to refresh myself on… what happened.”

Richie sighs, motioning to the car. “Get in, let’s go.” Richie picks up his phone and calls Beverly instead, putting it to his ear. “Hey, yeah, Bev--um, Eddie’s not answering his phone but he should be back any minute… Can you come to the library? I’ve got… There’s something that everyone’s gonna need to see.”

Driving back to the library, Richie walks in with Stanley following, a giant crash from upstairs sounding as they enter. People scream.

“What the fuck?!”

“Shit, that’s Mike--Stan, let’s go!” They run up the stairs to see Henry fighting Mike, trying to stab him with his silver knife. “Oh, fuck--”

“Get the axe, get the axe--” Stanley rushes forward and picks it up, slamming it on Henry's head. Everything goes silent and Stanley takes a step back, Henry rolling over. 

“Stan?”

“Ha,” Richie nods. “I guess you could say that was long overdue.” Stanley and Mike look to Richie, who retches. “Oh, nope.” he turns around and pukes, Stanley covering his eyes and looking away.

“Hey!” shouts Ben, running up the stairs. Beverly screams as she sees Henry lying on the floor. Eddie stares in horror. “Shit, are you alright?”

“No, I’m not alright! Stan just fucking killed a guy!”

“Stan?” Stanley steps out from behind Mike and Richie, smiling.

“Hey, guys…”

***

“So,” sighs Eddie, sitting at the bar. Richie sat next to him, then Stan, then Ben, then Beverly. “We go after It tomorrow morning?” No one says a thing, Bill knocking back a drink.

“We should have gone after it this morning,” mutters Bill. His eyes were still red from crying. “I shouldn’t have let you guys stop me,”

“It wouldn’t have made a difference, Bill.” Ben reassures him. “It’s better we’re going after we’re rested and ready, okay?”

“Yeah, Bill. Even if you had gone we would have probably all died anyway. Besides, now Stan’s here so we’ve got everyone.” Richie shrugs.

“Please promise us you won’t run off tonight,” whispers Beverly. Bill looks at her and sighs. “We have to do this together. You can’t do this alone. We’re the losers club together, alright? All of us.”

Bill glances at Stanley, who smiles at him. “Why do you think I came back?”

Smiling a bit, Bill chuckles. “Because Losers stick together,” he says, the others smiling. 

Everyone starts to laugh, chatting amongst themselves. Eddie smiles as he watches Richie steal Ben’s shot, drinking it. He hides the shot glass behind his back as he pretends to play dumb, Ben grinning as Richie blames it on Stan. Stan smiles and he throws the contents of his shot at Richie’s face, who nods as he wipes his face off. Beverly laughs while Bill hands Richie a napkin.

“I think I’m just going to turn in for the night,” Eddie smiles, the losers looking to him. “You know, just… the shock for today and… none of us got any sleep last night, so…” Eddie laughs a bit. “I want to be well energized for the, uh--final showdown so I think I should rest.”

Eddie waves goodnight and heads upstairs to change into his pjs. Richie looks to the others. “We should probably do the same, huh? I mean we’re fighting this immortal mimic clown, so he’s probably got the right idea.” Richie stands up. “See you guys in the morning?” 

The other losers got up and went to their rooms, all on their way to go to bed. On his way back to his room, Richie glanced at Eddie’s door, taking a deep breath. 

He wasn’t going to let Eddie die.

Eddie lay on his bed, staring up at the letter Richie had left him before leaving him at the apartment. If he was going to die tomorrow, why not read it? Ripping it open, Eddie sat up as he read it over. 

Richie, in his own room, pulled Eddie’s 27 year old letter out of his pocket.

_ Dear Richie, _

_ You’re probably never actually going to read this because this is really just a way for me to feel better, but I’m writing this to come clean before we meet at the arcade tomorrow. _

_ If I could, I’d tell you I love you. If I could, I’d tell you how many times I’d think about you and wish we were together. How much I love it when you call me Eds and how much I love it when you hug and tease me. _

_ I just wish I had the courage to, but you probably don’t like me anyway. So this is good, what we have now. We see eachother everyday and we’re always close, so I can live with that, because it still makes me happy. _

_ And who knows? Maybe after college we’ll be together. Maybe we’ll live in a cute house and have an adorable little puppy. Because you say that you won’t forget me, and I’m never going to forget you; because I love you Richie. I love you, and I always will. You’re my light. _

_ Love, your Eddie Spaghetti _

Richie sat up as he read it over and over again, his cheeks going red as he looked up to the door. 

He remembered everything. The kisses, the dates, all the ‘I love you’s tacked on to every sentence. Cuddling and the roof of Richie’s house and they watched the night sky and counted the stars. When Richie got his licence and would take him on late night drives, Eddie falling asleep on his shoulder, Richie only pulling off to the side of the road to fall asleep with him. 

Richie threw open his door and moved over to Eddie’s. He reached for the handle but Eddie opened the door, caught off guards as he saw Richie staring at him. Eddie glanced at the yellowed letter and his face went a little pink

“Richie,” he whispers.

Richie leans forward and kisses Eddie, closing his eyes as Richie pressed his lips against Eddie’s. Eddie moved back into his room and Richie shut the door behind himself, putting his hands on Eddie’s waist. Eddie draped his arms around Richie’s neck and he closed his eyes, kissing him back.

“Where--” Richie doesn’t stop kissing him, Eddie trying to ask his question as best he could. “Where did you… find that letter?” he asks, leaning up against the wall.

“It was--under Street Fighter,” breathes Richie, Eddie tilting his head a bit to get a better and more comfortable angle. ‘That game--really is… the best.” Eddie laughs a bit, Richie smirking. They continue to kiss, Eddie holding the sides of Richie’s face. 

“I love you,” whispers Eddie, Richie pulls away for a second to catch his breath. “If… If I’m going to die tomorrow, I want you to know that I love you so much,” Eddie smiles as tears form in his eyes. Richie puts his hand on the uninjured side of Eddie’s face, Eddie nuzzling into his hand. Richie wipes a falling tear away, looking into Eddie’s eyes.

“I am never going to let that happen, Eds. I promise you, that no matter what, we’re going to make it out alive.” Eddie smiles at Richie, who kisses his forehead before pulling him into a hug. Richie rests his head on top of Eddie’s. “Because I love you too,” he smiles. “And I always have; since the day I met you I thought, ‘Fuck, he’s cute’.”

Eddie laughs and Richie grins, chuckling. Richie moves his head as Eddie looks up at him. “Kiss me again?” Eddie asks, quieter than a mouse. Richie smiles and gently presses his lips against Eddie’s once again. 

“Of course,” Eddie closes his eyes and kisses Richie back.

“And stay with me tonight?”

“Of course,” Richie repeats.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Richie’s Letter)
> 
> Dear Eds.   
> I know you might be mad at me, but there’s only one reason I’m doing this, and I want you to know in case I don’t make it back. For years I’ve been in love with you, and I know this might be weird for you, since you’re also a guy, but I need to tell you this. No matter what happens to me, as long as you keep me close to your heart, I will protect you. After all, that’s what I’ve promised myself and you I’d do. It’s all for you Eddie. I love you like no other.  
> Love, your trashmouth.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHAAAAAAAA WERE ABOUT TO FUCKING S A V E EDDIES GODDAMN LIFE LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

##  Chapter Nine

Richie opened his eyes and stretched his arms before rolling over to see Eddie sleeping peacefully next to him. Pressing a kiss to forehead, Eddie hums, smiling as he opens his eyes.

“Good morning,” he mutters groggily, Richie smiling.

“Mornin’ Eds,”

Moving closer to Richie, Eddie sighs as Richie hugs him. “So I suppose we’ll have a guest bedroom, now?” Richie grins and laughs, smoothing out Eddie’s bed hair.

“I’d like that,” Eddie smiles, but then it falls, making him groan. “What is it?”

“We’ve got to fight that stupid fucking clown today.” Richie just laughs, sitting up in the bed.

“You forgot?” Eddie rolls his eyes and smirks. “Well, I’d better get out of my pjs and get dressed for the day, so I’ll see you downstairs. Okay?”

“Can I have another kiss?” Richie laughs, leaning down to give Eddie another kiss. “You know, when everybody figures it out, you’re fans aren’t going to leave you alone.”

“Bold of you to assume I’m not going to plaster my entire social media with it once we get home,” Eddie laughs and Richie gives him a wink. “Love you,” he opens the door and steps out, walking right into Beverly. “Oh, shit--sorry, Bev,” he says, giving her a smile.

“What’s got you all happy? I was just going to wake you and Eds up...” Richie blushes a bright red, Beverly narrowing her eyes. “Wait, why were you in--” Her eyes go wide in excitement as she smiles brightly. “Oh, fuck! Holy shit, Richie!” she cries, Richie rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“Bev, I just--”

“GUYS!” she cries, sprinting down the stairs. Richie hears Eddie laugh, Richie shaking his head.

“So much for us telling them, I guess.”

“Yeah, the whole world’s gonna know before I can even open my mouth,” Richie snickers, Eddie shaking his head. 

“Go on, Rich. I’m gonna get dressed.” Eddie walks up to his room’s door and gives Richie a peck on the cheek before closing it. Richie turns pink in happiness.

“Can I see?” he calls.

“Fuck you, trashmouth!”

“Is that a to-do list or an insult?”

He hears Eddie bust out laughing before smiling himself, heading to his room to change. When they head back downstairs, the other losers are grinning, Mike’s arms crossed.

“You son of a bitch, you remembered we dated back in high school!” Eddie shouts, blushing. Mike shrugs, laughing.

“You had to remember it yourselves,”

Beverly takes a drink. “...And by the looks of it, you guys did.” she mutters.

“Yeah,” Stanley rolls his eyes. “You might want to wear a scarf, Eddie.” Eddie and Richie turn a bright red, Eddie looking up at him.

“WHAT THE FUCK, RICH--WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?!”

“I THOUGHT YOU SAW IT IN THE MIRROR THIS MORNING!”

Ben and Bill laugh, nudging each other. Stan shakes his head and turns back to the others. “Well then, I guess we were right when we all met up two days ago, huh?” Beverly giggles, Richie laughing a bit.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Richie says. “It’s certainly going to be pretty shocking for the fans.”

“Oh, shit,” Eddie sighs. “You’re really enjoying yourself with this, aren’t you?”

“Yep!”

***

The Losers stand at the entrance of the Neibolt house, together and strong. It was early morning, the sun not even peeking over the horizon yet. As they stare into its sinister darkness flooding the street, Eddie looks around at the others. “So… does somebody want to say something before we do this? Or should we really just walk in? I mean, we can’t… stand here,”

No one says a word, avoiding eye contact with Eddie. Bill looks at Richie. “Richie said it b-b-best.”

Richie seems confused. “I did?” Eddie glances at him as the silence drags out. “‘I don’t want to die’?” Richie suggests, raising an eyebrow

“Not that,” mutters Bill.

“‘You’re lucky we’re not measuring dicks’?” Ben looks over, exasperated. Mike sighs and Eddie shakes his head.

“No,”

The silence drags out even longer, Richie looking at the losers. “‘Let’s kill this fucking clown’?” Bill smiles as Richie says it, making Richie smirk. He nods. “Let’s kill this fucking clown,” Richie repeats.

“I guess we don’t need anyone to keep watch, do we?” smiles Stan.

As the losers move inside, they turn on their flashlights. Bill enters first, then Richie with Eddie close behind. Mike steps in and the floorboards creak, making Stan flinch. Beverly and Ben are the last to enter. The amount of cobwebs and practically tripled. Eddie caught sight of a destroyed table, making him wince as he rubbed his arm. 

“Well, I love what he’s done with the place,” Richie announces as black tar oozes from the walls.

“Beep beep, Richie…” mutters Beverly. 

The losers continue to look around, walking throughout the house. Eddie and Richie follow Bill through another basement, all three taking careful steps like the three did all those years ago when they first entered the Neibolt house.

“Hey, that’s the basement, right?” Bill mutters, shining his light to a slightly opened door. 

“Ben?!” Beverly cries, the door separating Bill, Eddie and Richie from Stan, Bill, Mike and Beverly.

“Oh, no, no, no--Hey! Hey, Ben!” Eddie shouts, yanking on the door handle. “Ben!” The other three run to Ben’s side as he gasps in pain, clutching his stomach. His shirt starts to turn red from the blood. 

“Ben!” roars Bill.

Something clatters and Eddie slowly looks to where Richie’s pointing his flashlight. His eyes go wide and Bill turns around and the fridge the two stare at makes another noise. The fridge rattles violently, Eddie pressing himself against the door. Richie’s rooted to the spot, his arm stiff.

“Well, that can’t be good, right?”

Ben pulls up his shirt, seeing a fresh new cut where his ‘H’ scar started. “Help! Hey!” Mike exclaims as Ben sinks to his knees , still screaming in agony. 

“What is that?!” cries Stanley, looking up to Beverly. “What’s doing that?!”

As something bangs on the fridge, Bill yips in fear, flinching. When it bangs the third time, the door creaks open to reveal a body tangled in the fridge like Eddie had seen Pennywise twenty seven years ago. Bill and Richie groan in disgust, the body’s head looking up. Richie stares in shock, slightly moving his head as he tries to look for words. 

“It’s a second… younger Stan,” he says matter-of-factly. 

As the cuts continue to slice Ben’s stomach, the word ‘HOME’ is nearly finished. “It can’t be real! It can’t be real!” Beverly tells them over Ben’s screams. 

The younger Stan screams at Richie, who yells, staggering backwards. Eddie presses himself in the corner and Bill follows it with his flashlight as the fake Stan’s head rolls across the floor.

“Oh, god--”

“Shit!”

Eddie starts to hyperventilate as Richie jumps out of the way, the fake Stanley’s head stopping on the other side of the room. It looks up to Richie, Bill and Eddie. 

“I’d still be alive if it wasn’t for you, Bill.” Bill shakes his head rapidly as Richie glances over to him.

‘HOME AT LAST’ reads the cuts on Ben’s stomach, Mike looking up to the mirror in front of them. “Beverly! Stanley!” The two look up to see Pennywise behind them in the reflection, the same horrifying smile on his face. They look back, but the clown isn’t there. As they look back, Pennywise lifts the knife to Ben’s throat and slowly begins to drag it across.

“Beverly, the fence post!” yells Stanley, pointing to it. Beverly looks down and swipes it off the floor, running at the mirror with it. Screaming, she holds it back and swings with her might, the mirror shattering upon impact. They look back to Ben’s stomach and the cuts are gone.

Fake Stan’s neck cracks and smiles as he looks up to Richie. “Richie, what’s happening to me?” his voice cracks and Richie stares. 

Stanley’s skin bends and rips as spider/crab-like arms sprout out of his face. Bill flinches as Stan cries in pain. Eddie gasps in disgust, Stan’s head lifting off the ground as the arms push it off the ground. Richie’s eyes go wide.

“You’ve gotta be fucking  _ kidding  _ me!” he says. Stanly laughs and looks to Eddie, who shakes his head. Turning then to Richie, he stops laughing and screeches horribly, scattering towards Richie. “FUCK!” It turns to Eddie as Richie flashes his flashlight at it, Eddie screaming.

“Oh, God dammit, get it away from me! Oh, god!” He kicks it hard and the head staggers back, running at Bill. He moves out of the way as it leaps at him, hitting it through a hole in the wall with his flashlight. Bill looks in and hears it skitter away, laughing. Richie glances in before turning to look to Eddie, backed up against the wall.

“Shit, Eddie--you okay?” 

Eddie nods slightly. “I’m…”

Drool drips between the two, Richie and Eddie looking at it. Richie looks to the rafters and shines his light to see the grinning head.

“Oh, there he is.” The head lunges at Richie who screams, falling to the ground. Eddie freezes up and watches as Richie tries to pull it off his face, Bill running forward to help. 

“Richie!” shouts Ben.

“Richie, hey!” Beverly pounds on the door, Bill and Richie screaming as it snaps at Richie, still shrieking at him. 

“Get the knife! God dammit, Eddie! Get the knife!” roars Bill, still pulling at the head. Eddie can’t breathe or move as he stands there, watching in horror.

“Bill! Get it off me, Bill! Quick!” Richie shouts, closing his eyes.

“Oh, no, no, no, no--!” Eddie starts to cry, a panic attack taking over him. Mike kicks down the door and Stanley screams as he picks up the knife, driving it into the monster. It shrieks, Stanley pulling it out and stabbing it over and over again. Eddie flinches each time he stabs it, the head going limp. Bill chucks it near the fridge, the head slamming against the wall. It grunts as it pulls itself away, scurrying down the hall.

“Fuck, I just stabbed my own head,” mutters Stan in realization. Beverly runs to Richie’s side, who coughs and hacks as he tries to breathe again. 

Bill turns to look at Eddie, grabbing him by his jacket. “He could have fucking died, man!” Bill shakes Eddie violently, who stutters unintelligibly. “You know that, right?” Eddie covers his mouth and continues to cry. “Georgie’s dead, the kid’s dead--you want Richie, too?!  _ You want Richie, too?! _ ”

“I--I don’t, I d-d-don’t,” Mike pulls at Bill, who’s furious. “Please don’t be mad, Bill!” he says like his childhood self. Bill hesitates, loosening his grip. “I...I was j-just sc--I was just scared…!” 

Bill calms down. “But that’s what It wants, right?” Bill lets go, Eddie unable to look at Richie as he looks back at him. “Don’t give it to ‘em,” Eddie nods and Bill turns away. Richie walks to Eddie.

“Eddie--” Eddie doesn’t answer Richie, just following the other losers down into the basement. “Eds--” 

They reach the well, Ben sighing as he sees it. “A lot of memories, huh?” He smiles sarcastically. “...And they’re all bad.” Bill laughs a bit, Stanley snickers. “Mike, you still got the rope?”

As the losers headed down, they crawled into the sewer tunnels. First Mike, then Bill, Richie, Eddie, Stanley and Beverly and Ben. “Aw, man…” sighs Eddie. “Blech. Gray water…” They watch each tunnel they pass, Mike leading them through as they retrace their steps. There, through the last tunnel, is the place where they had fought the clown.

“Shit, this is it…” Ben breathes as everyone looks to him. “This is where it happened,” 

As they jump into the water, they wade through to the wooden platform, Eddie retaliating as a stuffed bear floats towards him. “Oh, no--nope! No, no. No.” Beverly hits it away with a stick. As they climb onto the platform, Ben turns to look at Beverly.

“Bev--what is it?” Beverly looks back to them, shrugging.

“I thought I heard something--” A grotesque woman appears out of the water and screeches, Beverly screaming. Looking to the other losers, it grins as it grabs her.

“Time to sink!” it cackles, sinking down into the water.

“Beverly!” 

“Bev!” Richie, Bill, Ben and Mike dive in after her, Eddie and Stanly screaming.

“Oh fuck, Stanley--” gasps Eddie. “No, do we go after them--?!”

“Shit,” Stanley breathes, his eyes wide as he traces the area with his flashlight. Everything goes silent. “God dammit, this is backwards--” he calls. “No, guys! We’re supposed to be dead, not you--!”

Beverly gasps and resurfaces, Ben pulling her up. She hugs him tightly as she cries, Mike, Bill and Richie coughing as they come back up for air. As Stanley and Eddie pull them all out of the water, Richie wipes his face, looking around. He shivers from the cold.

“Mike? Where are we supposed to go from here?” 

Mike points to the floor they stood on, a small hatch with a small glow behind it. “In the depths is where It crept, in the beneath to find belief. In the depths is where It crept, in the beneath to find belief.” Ben looks up to the others.

“Is he okay?” he mutters.

Richie looks from Mike to Ben. “I think at this point that is becoming a relative question,” nods Richie. Beverly elbows Richie, making him pull his arm back. “Ow,” he mumbles.

“What’s on the other side?” she asks.

“I don’t know,” answers Mike. He shakes his head. “No one does.” He hastily opens it up and the losers jump back.

“Woah, woah, woah!” yells Bill. “Mike!” Mike peers in and sits down to climb in. “Mike, don’t!”

“See you down there,”

“Mike!” everyone yells. He takes a step down, everyone realizing he wasn’t about to jump down. They exchange embarrassed glances, Bill sighing. He starts down followed by Stanley. Richie looks at Eddie as the others start down too. Eddie starts to shake his head, staring down the bottomless hole. 

“Riche, I… I can’t do it,” Eddie laughs nervously, hugging himself and taking a small step back. “I can’t. You saw what happened up there!” he wipes his eyes. “I… I was going to let you die. If I freeze up again--I can’t just rely on you to save me.” Eddie meets eyes with Richie, only to quickly look away. “A-a-and what if it goes south, huh? What if--what if you die trying to save me? I don’t want to go home to that apartment all alone with you not there, I can’t--” He laughs a bit. “If you let me go down there, I’m gonna get us all killed.” Eddie takes out his inhaler and takes a breath.

Moving closer, Richie grabs Eddie’s wrist. “Hey, hey, hey. Give me that--” Eddie fights, trying to pull his hand back to himself. 

“Give it back--” Eddie uses his other arm but Richie’s too strong.

“No, don’t--  _ Let go! _ You little turd--”

“Just let me get--”

Eddie sprays the inhaler, still trying to pull it towards his mouth. Richie lifts his flashlight and shines it in Eddie’s face, taking away the inhaler. “Stop, Eds.” Eddie looks up to him, sighing. “Listen to me.” Richie nods. “You had a moment. I’m fine. But who fought a psychotic clown before he was fourteen?”

Eddie looks to his left before glancing back to Richie. “...Me.”

“Who saved me from that same psychotic clown even though he had a broken arm?”

“Also me.”

“Who stabbed Bowers with a knife he pulled out of his own face?”

Eddie nods, smiling a bit. “Me.”

“Yeah,” Richie nods. Eddie looks back down, but Richie tilts his head back up so he looks at him again. “You’re braver than you think. And I love you for it.”

Eddie smiles. “Thanks, Rich.”

Richie pushes a kiss to Eddie’s forehead. “Everyone is going to be fine. And so are you. And so am I. Okay?” Eddie nods. Richie hugs Eddie, who buries his head in the crook of Richie’s neck.

“I love you too, Richie.”

Richie smiles, drawing a few circles on Eddie’s back. “You ready?” Eddie takes a deep breath, pulling away from the hug.

“Let’s go kick some clown ass.”

“There’s my Eddie Spaghetti. Now don’t fucking use this or I’m gonna be pissed at you” Richie hands Eddie his inhaler and they turn to Ben and Beverly, Richie holding Eddie’s hand. As Richie starts down, Beverly stops Eddie, holding her fence post out to him.

“Here. Take it,” she says, handing it to him. “It kills monsters.”

“Does it?”

“Yeah,” she nods. “If you believe it does,”

“Thanks Bev,” he smiles, starting down the hole after Richie. They move through the tunnel and out a small crack running through the stone, up to an unnatural, strange, spiky, obsidian monument. Eddie steps on some bones and shivers, clinging to Richie’s jacket. “Fuck, is that a skull? Guys, that’s a skull--a  _ human  _ skull, mind you?!”

“It’s okay, Eds… It’s alright…” Richie mutters, holding his hand.

“So anyway--this has been under Derry for like--like, forever?” Stanley asks, his voice a little squeaky in shock.

“Not forever,” says Mike. “Just a few million years.” As they make their way into the center, Mike sets down his bag and opens it, pulling out the Chud ritual container. He sets it in the middle, looking to the others. “It can only be attacked in its true form. The ritual will show us that.”

“And what’s it’s true form?” 

“I hope it’s a puppy,” Richie shrugs. “Like a Pomeranian or…” He glances at everyone. “...I’ll shut up.”

“It’s light,” Mike looks at the container, then back up to the losers. “A light that must be snuffed out by darkness.” He filled the container with gasoline, then struck a match and dropped it in. The flame jumped in the container, Mike standing up. “Place your artifacts in the fire. The past must burn with the present.” As everyone reaches for them, Stanley looks to his.

“Remind me again why mine’s a fucking shower cap?” asks Stanley, looking to the others. Richie points to Mike. Stan shakes his head and puts it in. “Whatever,”

“This is the boat that I built with… Georgie,” Bill announces, slipping it into the fire. 

“My inhaler,” mutters Eddie. He glances at Richie.

“Don’t fucking do it,” Eddie lifts it up but Richie grads his hand. “Eds, I swear, just let go--” Eddie sighs in defeat, tossing it in the fire. “I mean, come on.”

“Sorry,”

“Something I wish I had held onto.” whispers Beverly. She places it in the fire and Ben clears his throat, trying to seem uninterested. 

“This is a… a page from my yearbook.” He looks down at it, smiling a bit. “...That only one person signed.” He laughs a bit. “Probably should have forgotten it, but… I couldn’t because I kept it in my wallet for twenty seven years.”

Richie turns the gaming token in his hand, “I brought a token from the Capitol theatre.” Richie tosses it in.

“Wait, you brought an actual token?”

“Yeah, man.” He looks at Eddie. “I mean, that’s what we were supposed to do, asshole.”

“Do you have any idea how long that’s gonna take to burn?” 

“Yeah, but so is your inhaler, dude.” Richie shrugs.

Stanley sighs. “Really, you two?” 

“All the toxic fumes and the plastic and shit, so…” Eddie rolls his eyes.

Mike holds out a bloody rock. “The rock Beverly used to hit Bowers during the rock fight.” Mike turns it in his hand. “The day these bonds were forged.”

“That’s not gonna burn either,” whispers Eddie to himself.

“I know, Eddie.” mutters Mike. “Okay, grab hands.” Everyone does as they are told, Richie and Eddie meeting eyes. They smile hopefully at each other. “The Ritual of Chud is a battle of wills. The first step was our reunion, the second, the tokens. This is the final step.” 

As the fire suddenly snuffs out, Richie looks at it. “What the--?”

A monster sounds, everyone looking to the dark abyss above them. Three bright lights shine, everyone stepping back.

“Don’t look at them!” Mike orders. 

“The deadlights--those are what I saw!”

“Don’t look at it!” Everyone closes their eyes, Mike repeating himself. “Turn light into dark, turn light into dark--say it!”

“Turn light into dark--”

“Turn light into dark! Turn light into dark!”

Mike chants in a different language, everyone still screaming the words in english. The light starts to lower itself to the container, winds blowing as his shrank in size. 

“Turn light into dark! What the fuck is happening, Mike?!” Richie shouts.

“Keep chanting!” As the light disappears, Mike slams the lid over it.

“Turn light into dark! Turn light into dark! Is it over?! Did we do it?!” Eddie cries, opening his eyes. They look to the container, something red trying to push away the lid.

“Mike, did we do it? Is that part of it?”

“Mike--is this supposed to be happening?” Stanley looks up to Bill. “Did you guys forget to tell me something?”

“No no no no--keep chanting!”

“What?!”

“Keep chanting!” A giant, glowing, red balloon grows larger and larger, pushing the losers away from each other.

“Eddie--Eddie!”

“Oh, fuck--Richie, what’s happening?!”

“Mike what the fuck?!”

“Go! Go go go!” Everyone moves away, running as the balloon gets bigger and bigger. “Watch it, get out--!”

The balloon pops and the losers cover their ears, groaning as their hearing is damaged. Richie sits up and looks around as he hits his ear, trying his best to call out. His own voice is muffled like he’s under water, looking around to see Eddie lying on the ground, wincing in pain. Richie calls out again but Eddie doesn’t hear. He calls louder and Eddie looks to him, Richie running over.

“Richie? Richie, I can’t hear shit--”

“It’s okay, I’ve got you--” Richie helps him up and looks around. “Where’s Mike, guys?!”

“The other losers look around. “Mike?”

“Mike!”

“Here! I’m here.” catching his breath, Richie moved forward.

“Did we do it? Is it done?” asks Eddie, holding on to Richie.

“We put the tokens in the thing but--there’s more to my dream, I--Eddie wasn’t even in danger!”

“Was it because I came?” Stanley looks around, holding up his flashlight. “So we did it! We did it right--?” Everyone follows it, screaming in fear as the light shines on the clown peering through the obsidian. Ben stumbles back, Eddie falling to the ground. Richie pulls him back up and they move away, Bill grabbing Stanley’s arm.

“I don’t think we did it, Stan.”

“Oh, did it work, Mikey?” asks Pennywise, cackling. “Did it work?” It moves around as it stares at Mike, who’s rooted to the spot. “Tell them why your silly little ritual didn’t work…” it giggles. “Tell them it’s all just… what’s the word, Eds?” Richie holds Eddie tighter, Eddie gasping for air. It pops up, staring at him. “Gazebo?”

“Mike, what is he talking about?” whispers Eddie.

“Mikey?” Bill asks.

“Oh, Mikey, you never showed them the fourth side, did you?” Pennywise laughs again, disappearing behind the obsidian. “Didn’t want them to know what actually happened to the poor Shokopiwah? Yum, yum, yum...”

“Fuck, Mikey. You lied to us again?!”

“No, it--it was because they didn’t believe! They didn’t believe they could kill it! That’s why it didn’t work back then!”

“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME, MIKE?!”

“But we hurt it!”

“Then why didn’t we fucking kill it?!”

“We--we must have r-remembered something wrong! It should have worked, I don’t know why it didn’t--”

“The Deadlights!” Beverly calls, the three orbs of light rising to the air. “Don’t look at them!”

Pennywise crawls out from the obsidian, laughing. “For twenty seven years I’ve dreamt of you,” Richie hugs Eddie, staggering backwards. “I craved you…” He stops in front of the Losers. “Oh, I’ve missed you!”

“Mike, move back!” shouts Ben, everyone falling behind.

“Waiting for this very moment!”

“I’m so sorry,” begs Mike.

“Time to float!” calls Pennywise, lifting up a claw. Bill tackles Mike and they roll out of the way as the claw hits the ground. Pennywise laughs.

“RU-U-U-UN!” Eddie hollers as loud as he can. Everyone takes off, screaming their heads off and Pennywise chases behind like a giant crab. 

“GO! GO! GO!”

Pennywise smashes through the obsidian and slams down its arm, separating the losers. Bill dives down into the water, Richie and Eddie jumping behind a wall. They peek around, Pennywise looking over to them. 

“Oh, shit!”

“Can he see us?” asks Richie. Pennywise turns to them and grins. They both scream loudly.

“OH MY GOD!” they shout together, running into one of the tunnels. Pennywise reaches after them, its arm stretching out after them. 

“Holy shit! Holy shit! Run, Eds!” 

They gasp as they stop in front of three white doors staring back at them. Eddie grabs the shoulder of Richie’s jacket. They glance back to see the arm unable to reach any farther. They look back to the doors. “...Which one did you and Bill go through again?”

“Fuck, god dammit--”

“It--it was ‘Not Scary At All’, right?” Eddie starts to move forwards but Richie grabs his hand.

“No, no, no, no, no, no!” he shouts. “They--the--they’re, uh… Um…” Richie closes his eyes.

“Wait, what?!”

“They’re flipped! He’s fucking with us!” 

“Are you sure? Positive?”

“Trust me!”

“Okay!”

Richie moves forward and opens the door slowly, looking in to see a closet. Eddie narrows his eyes in confusion, Richie slowly reaching forward and grabbing the light’s pull string. It flashed on and they peeked inside. A pair of legs skip towards them, the two screaming. Richie slams the door shut and they stagger backwards.

“What the fuck?! You told me to trust you!” cries Eddie. They look back to see the arm snapping wildly at them, making them scream again as they jump back from it. 

Richie looks back to the doors. “He’s not fucking with us. Let’s go to ‘Not Scary At All’.” Eddie nods and moves forwards, hesitating to open the door. Throwing it open, they look inside to just see the rest of the tunnel.

“...It’s alright, let’s go.”

They moved forward but stopped as they saw a small pomeranian puppy smiling up at the two of them, it’s tongue hanging out of its mouth. It’s tail wagged excitedly, a pink collar around its neck. The tag read ‘Fluffy’. Eddie and Richie’s eyes widened, the two taking a step back.

“Oh, shit.” whispers Richie. “Isn’t that Vivian’s puppy we dog sat for a week?” he asks.

Eddie shakes his head. “No way am I falling for this shit again.”

“Oh, yeah. That thing’s a fucking monster.”

“When it shit everywhere and bit us and it wouldn’t stop barking--” Eddie glances back. “Richie, make it sit. That’s what Viv always told you to do.”

Richie crouches down a bit, the dog looking to him. It wags its tail more. “I know your  _ moves  _ you little bitch!” he hisses. Eddie spins around at the sound of rocks falling, Elbowing Richie.

“Rich--” Richie turns around. “It’s gone, man. Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“Wait--” they turn back around and look at the dog. It tilts its head to look at them innocently.

“Okay…” Richie raises a hand. “Sit!” he commands.

The dog does as it's told, making the two relax. “He did it!”

“Aw, that’s cute.”

Eddie leans forward, shaking his head. “That’s a good boy!” he praises.

“That’s actually super cute.”

“That’s such a good boy, Fluffy!”

Richie looks at Eddie. “Do I want a dog? We should get a tiny dog for the apartment.”

“Look at it Richie, It’s so cute! Aw, I’m gonna pet it--” 

“Such a good boy little Fluffy--”

The dog morphs into a monstrous creature and roars at them, Richie and Eddie grabbing each other tightly as they scream. Richie slams the door shut and they turn around. 

“Shit!” Eddie glances back as Richie grabs his hand. “Next time, we just go with regular scary!”

“ _ Next time?! _ ” asks Richie. They ran out to the middle, Richie grabbing Eddie to stop him as they looked out to see Pennywise laughing, his arm wrapped around Mike, ready to kill him. Richie looked back to Eddie.

“Well I know what you are!” teases Pennywise.

“Eddie, no matter what happens, I love you.”

“Richie--” Grabbing a rock, Richie steps back into the light, holding up the rock.

“A madman,”

Richie chucks the rock as Pennywise opens his mouth, hitting the side of it’s head. “HEY FUCKFACE!” he hollers. Pennywise turns to look at Richie, Eddie cowering behind the rocks. It throws Mike to the side, Stanley running from his hiding spot to help him. Richie picks up a second rock. “You wanna play Truth or Dare?! Here’s a truth! You’re a sloppy bitch!” Pennywise growls. “Yeah that’s right! Let’s dance!” Richie holds up the rock. “Yippee-ki yay, motherfu--” Richie’s eyes go white as his body goes limp when Pennywise opens his mouth for Richie to see the deadlights.

“RICHIE, NO!” screams Eddie, shooting up. Richie floats in the air.

_ “Richie! He’s floating!” _

_ “How--how is he in the air?”  _

_ Eddie jumps, trying to reach up and grab Richie. “Help me up, help me up!” _

_ “Your arm--” _

_ “Fuck my arm! Get me up there!” Reaching for him, Eddie grunts, off balance. “I'm slipping!” Pushing him up higher, Eddie grabs Richie’s ankle, pulling him back down. Eddie smiles. “Richie, we got you, I’m here--” Eddie’s smile fades and he looks into Richie’s white eyes. “Richie? Richie! Why isn't he waking up?! What is wrong with him?!”  _

_ “Eddie!” _

_ “Goddammit Richie, you have to be alive! You can’t be dead! You can’t! Richie, please! Come on!” _

Eddie holds his head in his hands as he fights the memories, starting to panic. “Oh, no, no, no--” Eddie looks to the fence post in his hands. The fence post that saved his and Richie’s life not once, but probably twice before. He takes a deep breath. “This.. kills monsters…” Eddie tightens his grip around it, exhaling. “If you believe it does.” Eddie closes his eyes. “If you believe it does…!” Opening is eyes, he glares at Pennywise. “ _ If you believe it does! _ ” He runs towards the monster, ready to throw. “And no one touches my trashmouth but me!” Eddie shouts. “ _ BEEP-BEEP MOTHERFUCKER! _ ” he roars, chucking it into Pennywise’s mouth.

The monster roars and staggers back, Richie falling back to the ground. It chokes on the fence post, falling back to impale itself on one of the obsidian points. Eddie rushes over to Richie, smiling as Richie looks to him. 

“Rich! Rich, holy shit!” Eddie looks over at Richie, who’s laying on the ground. His eyes twinkle in the horrible lighting, a smile on his face. “Hey Rich, wake up!”

“Eddie--” Richie gasps. “No--!”

“Yeah, yeah! There you are, buddy!”

“Eddie, move!”

Eddie seems like he can’t hear him, looking backwards. It didn’t make any sense--why couldn’t Eddie hear him? “Listen, I think I got him, man. I think I killed it! I did!”

“EDDIE, LISTEN TO ME!”

It clicked in Richie’s mind.

_ Clown got your tongue? _ hisses a voice in Richie’s mind.

_ NO!  _ Richie closed his eyes as he tried to think of a solution. When they snapped back open, everything had changed.

_ “A-ha!” grinned Eddie, pinning Richie to the ground.  _

_ They were young again, the two of them lying in the grass of the prairie under the warm evening sun that rang true in Richie’s memory. The wildflowers tickled his cheeks as he laughed, staring up at the smiling Eddie. His hair moved softly in the gentle wind, Eddie’s pink polo shirt blending in with the sunset behind them. _

_ “I won this time! I’m getting stronger than you!” Eddie teases. Richie just chuckled, raising his eyebrow.  _

_ “You didn’t win, dumbass. I’m way stronger than you are, my dear Eddie Spaghetti.” Richie retorts, Eddie puffing up his cheeks in anger. Richie watches as Eddie’s guard lowers. _

_ “Oh, what do you mean, you liar! I totally won--” Richie rolls over and presses Eddie into the grass, laughing triumphantly. Eddie scoffed, _

_ “What!” he cries, trying to fight back. It’s no use, Richie had one. “Ugh, no fair, trashmouth! You cheated!” _

_ “Cheated?” Richie gasps, pretending to be offended. “Why, my little Eds I would  _ never  _ do such a thing! I’m hurt that you even thought of such a thing!” Eddie giggles, trying to escape. “Where do you think you’re going?” Richie tickles Eddie’s stomach, who squeals, laughing as he closes his eyes. _

_ “No! No, Richie! No!” he manages through the giggles. “I can’t breath, Richie! Stop it! You win! You win!” Richie laughs as he stops, Eddie grinning up and him. “You’re the worst, Rich.” _

_ “Aw, but you love me.” _

_ “Sadly, I do…” Eddie sighs dramatically. “Give me a kiss?” he asks. Richie smiles and moves down to press a tender kiss to Eddie’s lips. _

_ “Of course,”  _

_ They close their eyes and kiss again, Richie letting go of Eddie’s hands so the smaller boy could wrap his arms around the taller one’s neck. _

_ “I love you,” _

_ “I love you too, Eds.” _

Richie opened his eyes and grabbed Eddie by his arms and rolled them out of the way. The claw came down and crushed the ground, Eddie looking over in fear.

“Holy shit!” shouts Stan. “Watch out!” Richie pulls Eddie to his feet and they run out of the way, multiple claws coming at them. 

“DID YOU JUST SAVE ME?!”

“I HOPE SO!” They keep running until another claw slams down in front of them, then behind them. Eddie grabs Richie and they look up, Pennywise laughing as he stares down at the two.

“Good job, Richie…” Pennywise mocks. “You saved their lives and one the games!” It slams two more claws to the other sides, trapping them. “Now it’s time for your prize!” Opening its mouth, Pennywise starts to move to eat them, Richie turning to stare at Eddie. Eddie’s eyes are widened in fear, Richie starting to cry.

“I’m sorry!” says Richie. “I couldn’t protect you--I’ve...I’ve failed!”

Eddie grabs the collar of Richie’s jacket. “It’s okay, Richie.”

“It’s not. I’m so sorry.”

“I love you,” Eddie pulls Richie down and kisses him, Richie pulling Eddie closer. If death was coming, why not accept it?

Stanley screamed, picking up a rock and throwing it at Pennywise. It pulls away and looks to Stanley, but Beverly throws another, disorienting it. As it staggers back, Eddie and Richie pull away, and look up as the other losers throw rocks to knock it back.

“Retreat! Retreat!” hollers Bill, Eddie grabbing Richie’s hand and pulling him to a thin tunnel. They slide down and the Losers follow, Pennywise swiping at them.

“Holy shit!” gasps Ben. “Nice thinking, Stanley!”

“You guys okay?!”

“No, I’m not alright!” cries Eddie, motioning to Pennywise trying to claw himself in. “I nearly got impaled like, seven times!” He gasps for air and Richie sighs, laying down on the cold ground.

“Jesus Christ, that was too close…” Richie pants, putting a hand over his beating heart. “I almost fucked that up,”

Ben looks to the left to see a tunnel, looking back. 

Bill shakes his head. “We need a plan.”

“Well, I… I almost killed it.” Eddie says, trying to rack his brain for ideas. “The leper, yesterday… I pressed my hands around its throat when I was choking it and I made it small… I could feel it choking,” Pennywise continues to rip up the rock, shrieking. “He seemed so… weak.”

Mike stands up. “The Shokopiwah!” he realizes. “‘All living things must abide by the laws of the shape they inhabit!” 

“Guys!” Ben turns, looking to the Losers. “There’s a passageway! Through here.” 

“The tunnel!” shouts Stanley. Beverly points to Stanley.

“That’s it! Pennywise has to make himself small to get through the entrance of the cavern, right?!”

Stanley waves his hand. “Okay, so, if we can get back there, we can force him down to size!” Bill nods, smiling at Stanley. “We make him small. Small enough so we can kill him!” 

“I can smell the stink of your fear!” bellows Pennywise, trying to reach in.

“Richie, Eddie, you guys cause a distraction!” shouts Mike as the others squeeze through the passage.

“What?!” shrieks Eddie.

“But what do we do if he gets to us?!” hollers Richie.

Stanley peeks his head out. “Do what you two always do! Start arguing!” he orders, Eddie and Richie looking to each other.

“We do argue a lot, don’t we?”

Getting to their feet, Richie shakes himself. “Alright, Eds. Okay. We need to argue. What are you pissed about?” Eddie thinks, glancing at Pennywise. “Hurry! We don’t have all day!”

“Oh, will you shut the fuck up? Don’t rush me!”

“I kind of have to, okay? We’ve got to do a distraction, so think!”

Eddie rolls his eyes. “Oh, so  _ I’m  _ the one who has to think of the distraction? Why me, huh? Why can’t you do it?!”

“Look, Eddie. It doesn’t matter who thinks of it, we just need a fucking distraction! God, why are you so pissed all of a sudden? Do you need your twenty hourly pills from when you were a kid so you stop being such a wet blanket--?” Eddie slaps Richie, who looks back to Eddie in shock. “Oh, why you little--”

They start to push each other, trying to smack the other’s face.

“You’re such an immature asshole--!”

“Oh, I’m the immature one--?!”

“Fucking--!”

Bill screams, catching their attention. “Shit,” mutters Richie.

“Oh, no.”

They run up to see Pennywise blocking the entrance to the way up, Eddie wincing. Richie throws up a hand. “Figures,” me sighs. “We can’t even do the one job asked of us.”

“You filthy little children…” laughs Pennywise, the Losers backing up. 

“You got a plan B, man?” asks Ben. “What the hell do we do now?”

“You die. That’s what you do!” 

“M-Mike…?”

Mike thinks, looking back up to Pennywise. “There’s more than one way to make someone small.” he says. 

“Make him believe that he is,” Beverly tries, Stanley and Bill looking at her.   
“What?!” they shout.

“Make him believe that he is!” Mike repeats.

“Oh? Me; small?” Laughing, it takes another step towards the Losers. “I am The Eater of Worlds!” The Losers back up, disowning their fear. Richie and Eddie run up, staring at Pennywise.

“Not to us you’re not,” Mike tells it. Pennywise stops walking forward. “You’re just a clown!”

Pennywise growls and opens his mouth to eat Beverly, but she takes a harsh step forward. “You’re just a weak old woman!” she shouts, Making Pennywise stumble back.

“Eater of Worlds!”

“A headless boy!” Ben insults. 

“Imposter!” roars Bill.

Stanley and the others start to walk it backwards. “An ugly woman with a flute!”

“Simple wooden toy!” hollers Richie.

“Leper!”

“A mimic! A mimic!”

Pennywise’s face switches as it gets confused, trying to scare the Losers. “You’re a fucking bully!” Beverly screams. 

“You’re just a fucking clown!”

“A dumb ficking clown!”

“Clown!” the losers scream, backing the monster up. “You just a clown! Just a clown!”

“A painting!”

“I’m not afraid of you anymore!” Bill shouts. “You’re a motherfucking stupid clown!” 

“ _ Clown! _ ”

“Clown! Clown! Clown!” 

Pennywise starts to shrink as it trips over its legs and falls to the center of the obsidian monument. 

“A stupid clown!”

“Clown, motherfucker!”

“E-E-Eater of… Worlds…!”

“Clown!”

“You’re just a clown!”

“I am the Eater of Worlds!”

Richie moves forward and grabs the arm it used to try to kill Eddie, ripping it off. He throws it to the ground and shouts at Pennywise, the Losers closing in. It sticks to the side of the obsidian, whimpering.

“You’re a clown,” says Mike one more time. “With a scared, beating heart.” Pennywise tries to cry out and push away Mike’s hand reaching to its heart. It screams as Mike pulls out the heart, reaching for it to be returned. The Losers reach out and wrap their hands around Its heart.

“Look at you,” whispers Pennywise. “You’re all… grown… up.” 

The Losers crush the heart in their hands and Pennywise drags out its last breath, looking up to the deadlights that faded out, Pennywise merely becoming the obsidian it stuck to. The heart faded from the Losers hands and up towards the flickering deadlights that died out like a candle's flame. 

***

The Losers stood about eight feet away from the edge of the quarry, Beverly smiling as she sprinted towards it, leaping off the edge. The others reached the edge and smiled as they looked down at Beverly, waving them in.

“Come on!” she calls, Bill grinning at the others.

“Let’s go!” He jumped in and Ben followed, Stanley hollering as he did a cannon ball down below. Richie looked to Eddie, who looked warily at the waters below. 

“Come on, Eds. Don’t tell me you’re still a wuss after all of this. I mean, you’re even jumped off here before.” Richie laughs, getting ready to jump. Eddie turns to Richie.

“Do you know how dangerous that is? What if I jump into shallow water?”

“Oh my god. We already argued over this last time. You’re not gonna jump into shallow water--”

“How do you know that? I mean, we were a lot shorter back then, so I mean, sure it might not have been shallow then, but now--” begins Eddie, putting his hands on his hips. Richie smiles, rolling his eyes. Holding out his hand for Eddi, Eddie hesitates, looking from the hand to Richie. 

“It’ll be fine, Eds. I’ll jump with you again.” Eddie takes his hand and looks back out to the quarry. “On three, okay?” Eddie nods. “One,” Eddie blows some air out of his puffed up cheeks, his toes over the edge. Richie stares at him. “Two,” Eddie closes his eyes and then looks down to the others waiting for them. 

“Wait a second, didn’t you push me off the edge last time--?!” “Three!” Letting go of Eddie’s hand, Richie puts his hand on his back and shoves him off the cliff, Eddie letting out a shriek as he flails uncontrollably, making a large splash as he hits the water. Richie laughs, pointing to Eddie as he resurfaces.

“What the fuck, Richie! I’ll kill you!”

Richie yells as he leaps off the cliff, splashing into the water below. Everyone looks away and blocks their faces from getting splashed. Richie coming up from the surface only for Eddie to jump at him, shoving him back under water. Richie picks Eddie up and throws him over towards Stanley, who gets splashed.

“Oh, you idiots!” he cries, splashing them back. Everyone shouts and cheers as they start up a water fight, Bill pulling Stan under. Eddie sends a big splash at Richie and knocks off his glasses, Richie protesting.

“Nice going, Eddie,” laughs Mike.

“I’ll get them,” Beverly and Ben say at the same time, glancing at each other with a smile. 

“We should help,” smiles Eddie. “I mean, they’re your glasses and I knocked them off.”

“Sounds like a good idea,”

Richie and Eddie duck under water, Eddie smiling as he presses his forehead against Richie’s. Richie grins as he tilts his head, his lips brushing against Eddie’s. Eddie kisses Richie and closes his eyes.

“Found ‘em!” exclaims Bill as he comes back up from the water. He looks around. “Where’s Rich?” he asks, Mike laughing. He pints down to the water and Bill grins, shaking his head.

When the Losers left the quarry, making their way down the street, Beverly glanced down at her hand, furrowing her eyebrows.

“Hey, guys--” she calls, everyone turning to see the scar on her hand gone. “Look.”

They all look to their hands in surprise, but then look to see their reflection in the store window. They were younger, though. So perhaps reflection was the wrong word for it. Covered in cuts and bruises, all by their bikes but Richie, who held onto Eddie’s.

Eddie shook his head, looking at his reflection and he gripped the handle bars. His face was smeared with dirt. “I can’t go home like this, guys. My mom will kill me.”

Richie smirks as he rolls his eyes, pinching Eddie’s cheek. “Dude, you’ve been gone for twenty four striaght hours. Your face is definitely on a milk carton by now. Also, you smell like your moms slippers.” The other Losers lose interest when Richie says his joke, Eddie turning pink.

“Shut up, Richie.” says Stanley, exasperated.

“Yeah, shut up. Also, that’s a compliment because they smell nice, asshole.” they start to argue as they all walk down the street with their bikes. “Oh, no! That’s complete bullshit! You know, you should be thanking me because I’m technically the one who saved your life! Where’s the thanks, Rich?” Richie doesn’t say a word, Eddie rolling his eyes. “Wow, of course. Whatever, you’re welcome you ungrateful--”

Richie pushes his lips onto Eddie’s to shut him up, Eddie’s whole face turning a bubblegum pink. Beverly glances back as she hears the bike hit the ground, the two of them lost in the kiss.

“Should we wait for them?” she asks.

“No,” says Stanley simply. “They’ll learn to stop taking forever if we don’t,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY SO THIS ISNT THE END I MEAN IT IS BUT I HAVE TWO EPILOGUE CHAPTERS COMING UP WITH A PROPOSAL AND CUTE SHIT SO PLEASE WAIT FOR IT ITS NOT OVER

**Author's Note:**

> omg T-T thank you so much you’ve read till the end of what I have bless ur soul ilysm I will post each chapter the fucking MINUTE I finish and that’s a goddamn promise it may take me about a week and a half to finish the whole book entirely I was aiming for like 120 pages and I’m past it with at 140 rn
> 
> T-T thank you so much this means the world to meeeee


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